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^ THE 



YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL: 

OR, 

HOW TO MAKE FARMING PAY, 

GIVING PLAIN AND PRACTICAL DETAILS OF GENERAL 
FARM MANAGEMENT; 

WITH 

A CHAPTER ON SOILS, 

AND THEIR CULTIVATION, 
AND MUCH OTHER VALUABLE MATTER OF A PRACTICAL CHARACTER, 

BY 

S. EDWARDS^TODD. 



..,-,Y3iry of Con^ 
VOLUME Ily -^ "^^p^^ 

C NEW YORK: 
F. W. WOODWARD, PUBLISHER, 37 PARK ROW, 

Office of " The Horticulturist." 
1867. 









Entered, according to Act op Congress, in the Year 1867, by 

F. W. WOODWARD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court op the United States for 
THE Southern District op New York. 



PREFACE TO VOLUME SECOND. 



The first volume of "The Young Farmer's Manual" treats 
of Mechanical Agriculture, and should be read with this, as it is 
intimately connected with it. The first chapter of this volume 
is made up of brief articles on the General Management of the 
Farm. The chapters on Soils, Pulverization, and Fertilizers, are 
as brief as they can be, in order to give a young farmer a thorough 
understanding of that branch of agriculture. A good knowledge 
of these branches lies at the very foundation of a good system 
of Farming. 

My first volume was written while I lived on a farm near 
Lake Ridge. Tompkins County, N. Y., where I was born, and 
resided until I was forty years of age. From Lake Riclgc I 
removed to Auburn, N. Y. Li the former part of 1865, 1 moved 
my family to New York City. Read the Preface to Volume I. 

I have endeavored to reduce the "scientific" to practice; 
and I think no intelligent reader will fail, with a dictionary, to 
get a correct idea on every subject, as I have aimed at simplicity 
of style. 

The instructions of this volume will be found well adapted 
to any j)ortion of the United States and Canada, and even to 
European agriculture. 



IV PREFACC TO VOLUME SECOND. 

Many of the paragraphs of this book were originally written 
for tlio '* Country Gentleman/' •' Boston Cultivator," and 
*' American Agriculturist," and a number of the illustrations are 
from stereotypes of wood-cuts prepared for the "American 
Agriculturist." The articles alluded to have been revised, and 
sometimes improved, previous to beuig arranged for this volume. 

One prominent object, which I have aimed at, is, to pen good 
practice, good experience, and good details for performing the 
labors of the farm, and cultivating the soil, so that young farmers 
will not be required to spend a whole lifetime in reaching a given 
point in Agriculture, to v/hich multitudes have already attained ; 
and that they may )je able to make the highest point of good 
farming ihdr starting jplacc. If this object can be accomplished, 
my highest aspirations will be satisfied. 

I have written independently of the writings of other men. 
My aim has been to give my own experience, in preference to any 
thing that has ever been pubhshed. In this respect, this volume 
is an original work. After having pennc-d my own thoughts, I 
have examined a very few agricultural journals for the purpose 
of copying the remarks of the best writers on the same subject. 
Whenever I have copied a paragraph, proper credit has been 
given, if the authority were known. 

The manner in which subjects are described in the first chap- 
ter, as well as the style of composition, will furiish a forcible 
illustration of prosecuting the labors of a farm, even when the 
operations are well conducted, both in the field, iu the manage- 
ment of stock, and of fertilizers. Afy ideas have been written in 
such a manner, that the reader vrill perceive more or less confu- 
sion in the few first pages. The design of employing certain 
rhetorical figures of speech and bombastic language was, to in- 



PREFACE TO VOLUME SECOND. V 

tensify the ridiculous feeling which prevails with some persons 
when they reflect on the truths to which I have made allusion. 

If some paragraphs appear too common-place and lacking in 
dignity, I have only to reply to such a thought that I liavc not 
written for persons of refined manners and polished education, 
but for working aid uneducated farmers^ who need the greatest 
plainness and simplicity of speech, smacking sometimes of slang, 
for the purpose of bringing the thought home to the reader in 
the most emphatic manner. 

The reader may inquire what connection killing weeds and 
plowing and harrowing has with ** making farming pay ? " These 
subjects lie at the very foundation of good agriculture. If a 
man does not know how to plow well, nor how to exterminate 
noxious weeds, he does not understand the fundamental princi- 
l)les of his profession. If the reader will study the different sub- 
jects alluded to in this and the next vclume, so as to understand 
them thoroughly, he will be well prepared to make farming pay. 

S. E. T. 
New foRK, 1867. 



THE 

YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



VOT^UME II. 



CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTION. 

GENERAL MANAGEMENT OP A FARM. 

" Work, for the night is coming; 
Work, through the morning hours; 
Work, when the dew is sparkling. 
Work, 'mid springing flowers." 

1. A farmer's destiny is to labor with his hands. To facili- 
tate his labors, and enable him to succeed in his employment, he 
needs facts. The minds of the great mass of working men have 
not been enbghtened by scientific knowledge. For this reason, 
they are not properly qualified to avail themselves of the advan- 
tages to be derived from instructions that are more theoretical 
than practical. A well-estabhshed fact will overthrow the most 
plausible theory. In the management of all kinds of domestic 
animals, in the cultivation of the soil, in raising the various pro- 
ducts of the farm, facts, figures, and plain details of whatever is 
to be done, is always of primary importance. Farmers are re- 
quired to understand such a variety of manual labor, that they 
often need minute details to enable them to perform what some- 
times appears so simple as to need no explanation. Knowing that 
success depends on the general management of farming operations, 
my aim is to aid practical men in beginning correctly and ending 
successfully. 

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 

2. Only a few years ago, many good writers on agricultural 
subjects were aiming to had practical agriculture, by vision- 



2 THE Y^OUNO FARMRU'S MANUAL. 

ary theories in the cultivation of th:; soil, and in the pro- 
duction of various kinds of crops. Bat I am sorry to record 
that the details of Agricultural Chemistry, after having been 
Ijrought to bear upon the principles and i)racticcs of field opera- 
tions, have brought disappointment, in most instances, instead of 
encouragement and success. 

I would not decry Agricultural Chemistry. T would accredit 
to that science all that is really due to its investigations. But 
the manner in which Agricultural Chemistry has been extolled, 
in years past, has had a great tendency to bring not only that 
science, but the science of practical agriculture, into great disre- 
pute, by those who are anxious inquirers after truths and facts, 
that have an important influence on the successful cultivation 
of the soil and on the revenue of the farmer. It has been a 
source of pleasing satisfaction to intelligent fanners to read the 
reports of chemical investigations; but, when tlie young farmer — 
or the old one either — has endeavored to avail himself of some of 
the practical benefits to be derived from agricultural chemistry, ho 
has found that in most instances he has been pursuing a sliadow, 
and has attempted to grasp a phantom. It is true that chomical 
investigation has taught farmers the importance of saving bones, 
and how to reduce them to a fine condition with sulphuric acid, 
so that they may be employed as valuable fertilizers in promoting 
the growth and fructification of plants. Bat when we come to 
make an application of chemical science to the improvement of our 
agriculture, by following the details given by writers on Agricultu- 
ral Chemistry, we learn that dissolving bones with acid is an im- 
provement that has been overrated; because the expense which 
must be incurred will be too great to justify practical farmers 
in adopting such a system of fertilization. 

3. Agricultural Chemistry has taught us in what particular 
inGrredient some soils are deficient for raisinir a certain kind of 
grain. But when we have come to mingle those ingredients witii 
the soil in which it was said to be deficient, as a general rule it 
has been found that there is something more lacking. We have 
reason to hope that, in view of the investigations of Agricultural 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 8 

Chemistry, the time will come, ere long, when we shall witness 
grand instances of the application of chemical science to the 
improvement of the agriculture of our country. When farmers of 
ordinary intelligence can avail themselves of the benefit of chemi- 
cal investigations, so as to turn them to a profitable account in their 
systems of farm management, then Agricultural Chemistry may 
boast of her great and valuable service in improving the fertility of 
our soils, and of making them more productive from year to year. 

MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

4. Farmers should understand the difference between theory 
and 'practice, as well as between mechanical and chemical. When 
iron or bones are dissolved by acid, the action is chemical ; but 
when broken with hammers, or cut with chisels, it is done 
mechanically. Plowing, harrowing, and rolling the soil, are all 
mechanical operations ; but the changes which take place in the 
soil, in. the formation of vegetable mould, and production of 
phuits, are chemical. When wood is cut to sawdust, it is done 
mechanically ; when burned to ashes, chemically. 

5, ** Theory," the swift-winged sister of "* Practice/' ever vigi- 
lant and active, launches off into new and unexplored fields of 
thought and investigation; and beckons impatiently for her twin 
sister " Practice'* to follow with hasty steps where she has led 
the way. But " Practice," unobtrusive, economical and discreet, 
refuses to move. " Theory " then returns, and upbraids ' ' Practice " 
for her inefficiency and tardiness, who meekly replies, the way 
was long and beset with many insurmountable barriers. " Theory" 
on the impulse of a hasty moment, switches off on a new- 
fangled enterprise, and visits the isles of the ocean for guano, 
the bone mills for ossiferous fertilizers, the laboratory for a demi- 
john of acid; and then, with a barrel of poudrette, with a sack 
of superphosphate, with a pocketful of lime, and a handful of 
gvpsum, she prepares the soil with silver-tipped implements, and 
makes it fertile with the choicest elements of fertility, 'A-hile pleas- 



4 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

ing anticipations of a fabulous crop fill her mind. But "Prac- 
tice," always contented and never fretful, saves all the droppings 
and liquid of the stable and piggery, silently flattering herself that, 
if her crop is not as abundant as that of her sister, there will be 
enough to pay the expense incurred in cultivation, and a little more. 

6. After the crops have been secured, disconsolate " Theory" 
says to " Practice " : '' Lend me ten picayunes to pay for my 
demijohn of acid, for my crop was almost a failure." Gentle 
" Practice " kindly replies ; " Let my sister take twenty picayunes; 
for my crop, which only received the benefit of the droppings of 
old Bos, Cherry, and gentle Dick, was very bountiful." 

1" Again, energetic " Tijeory '' circumnavigates the globe, and 
plucks a fair head of wheat on the sh:)res of the Black Sea, an ear 
of bar)ey on the banks of the Nile, a panicle of choice oats from the 
fertile plains of California, and a pocketful of garden seeds from 
China. Then, with her fancy steeds and silver-mounted implements 
of husbandry, she cheers the heart of her sister " Practice " with the 
promise that her picayunes will soon be all returned with good in- 
terest. But Practice continues to move steadily forward in her 
daily labors, i>erforming every thing in good time and in good order, 
and wasting nothing. She selects the fairest and earhest ears of 
grain ; and the first ripened seed of the garden is carefully stored for 
a future crop. At the end of the growing season. Theory takes up 
with the lamentation of blasted hopes and disappointed anticipa- 
tions; while Practice rejoices in a complete realization of all her 
anticipations. Every young farmer should learn from these consi- 
derations to " count the cost " in every enterprise. If he should be 
prompted to attempt to raise a large crop of anything, by expending 
far more than it would be worth after it was rais:'d, it would not 
be in keeping with a judicious system of management, even if one 
should have an abundance of means for such a purpose. 

8. I do not condemn theorizing, as such : for without 
good theorizing we could have no good practice in the 
cultivation of the soil. Neither do I approve of holding and 
advocating theories, in agriculture, which cannot be success- 
fully and profitably carried out. But the two should be coipled 



THE YOUNf? FARilER'S MAXUAL. ' 5 

together, and maie to keep pace with each other, in all impor* 
taut )mprovements. If Theory makes valuable or wild sugges- 
tions, Practice must decide whether they will be feasible, prac- 
ticable, and profitable, or not. 

ANALYZING SOILS AND PLANTS. 

9. A great many young farmers cherish the erroneous no- 
tion that if they only knew how to analyze soils and plants, it 
would be an easy matter to render a soil productive. And a 
great many wise heads have even contended that a knowledge 
adequate to such an operation is indispensably necessary for 
every successful farmer. But we find that such analyses do not 
amount to any practical utility whatever. A farmer must pos- 
sess something else besides analyses of soils in order to be able to 
manage them so as to produce abundant crops. I have in mind 
an instance in which one of the very best wheat growers of the 
Empire State selected specimens of soil from several different 
places in his best field for raising wheat, which would, at that 
time, yield from thirty to forty bushels of wheat per acre. Tlie soil 
was carefully analyzed by an eminent agricultural chemist, and 
pronounced to be deficient in those elements of fertility necessary 
to form a good soil for wheat. 

1 0. Are we to suppose, for example, that a chemist will be 
able to detect, in his laboratory, the fertilizing influence of the 
infinitesimally small quantity of gypsum that falls on a square 
foot of ground, when only one or two bushels per aei-e are sown, 
which will produce a heavy crop of clover ? And, the same is 
substantially true of the analyses of various kinds of plants and 
grain. Again, how much of the aroma of sweet-smelling hay are 
we to suppose can be detected in the laboratory of a chemist by 
a carutul analysis of a few pounds of the choicest quality of hay ? 
There may be some little satisfaction in reading about the chemi- 
cal constituents of various kinds of plants and grain, but in 
the practical operations of the fainn they will afford little aid. 
A correspondent of the New York Agriculturist wrote to the 
Editor that he thous^ht it would interest other readers, as well 



G THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

as himself, to have tables published, which would show the 
chemical constituents of different kinds of farm produce, so that 
the farmer, by having his soil analyzed, could raise in rotation 
that class of plants best suited to the soil. 

1 1. The " Theory" on this point, at first appearance, seems to 
be just what fanners need. But we find that in " Practice" there 
is a certain something lacking. For we cannot make the " Theory" 
and " Practice" coincide so as to effect the desired results. There 
are plenty of tables of this kind, such as they are. Johnston's 
Aijricultural Chemistry is full of them. Ten or twelve years ago 
a distinguished agricultural chemist prepared a large chart, closely 
packed with these kinds of analyses, which are now esteemed of 
\hi\e jyracHcal value. By the aid of chemistry, we are able to know 
to within a himdredth part of a grain the composition « if soils and 
their products, yet we can make little use of this knowledge. For 
example, we know that the ashes of wheat contain a large amount 
of phosphoric acid, and turnips but little ; yet an application of 
phosphates to the soil does very little good to wheat crops, while 
the superphosphates are the great turnip manure in England. 

NO PRACTICAL UTILITY IN ANALYSES. 

12. The Country Gentleman says on this subject : " To analyze 
a soil with sufficient accuracy to render the analysis of .any value, 
requires a chemical education, and considerable apparatus, just as 
a physician needs an education for his profession, and a largo 
variety of drugs from which his medicines mny be compounded. 
And the great difficulty, after a prop: r analysis is made, is tiiis— 
that so many influences, the effect of which the chemist connot 
estimate, arise, in farm cultivation, to increase or dimiiiish the 
fertility of the soil. Thus, when its mechanical texture is just 
right, when the presence of moisture is regulated by good natu- 
ral or artificial drainage, and when proper attention turns the 
Whole produciive power of the soil to the crop upon it, instead 
af giving a large area to weeds, a small per centagc of those 
ingi:,;dients most sought for by the plant will go much farther 
than an equal or considerable larger per centage of the same ck- 



THE TOUXG FARMERS MANUAL. 7 

ments under contrary conditions. There may be some points 
that the chemist can prove by analysis, such as the cases of poi- 
sonous materials, if added in large quantities; but, as a general 
rule, analysis of the soil is now discarded almost wholly as a 
practical guide in farming. It is of very great importance in 
scientific investigations; but even in such plain matters as endea- 
voring to decide whether a soil requires liming or not, by testing 
the quantity of lime it contains, we fancy the money an analysis 
would cost will go much farther, and impart more satisfaction, 
if expended in experimenting with lime itself. 

13. The truth is, that all soils, with rare exceptions, con- 
tain enough of the ingredients of the crops we cultivate, 
so far as mere quantity is concerned, to produce these crops 
year after year to an almost unhmited extent. The difference in 
soils arises, therefore, from the different degrees of availability in 
which their constituents are present, rather than in the relative 
quantities. When a soil is said to be '' exhausted," we by no 
means imply that the food of plants is no longer present; but 
that it is not present in such a way that the plant can readily get 
at it. Thus, a fallow for one or more years may add greatly to 
the productiveness of a field, while nothing has really been added 
in its composition ; and analyses before and after the fallow would 
be just alike. 

PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE. 

14. The present is an age of improvement. The minds of 
all good farmers are being turned to the subject of better stock, 
and more abundant crops, from year to year, without incurring 
any unnecessary expense in the labors of the farmer. Their 
minds are grasping for a system of farm management that 
will be self-sustaining; a system that will not only J^cep the 
soil in a good state of fertility, but render it more productive 
from year to year; a system of management that will soon be 
the means of producing two blades of grass, two bushels of 
grain, two pounds of wool, or meat, with no increase of expense, 
where at the present time the proprietor receives only one. 



8 THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 

15. Our fields do not produce oue-lialf the amount of grruii, 
grasd and meat that th(;y are capable of producing under proper 
mauaocraent. At present there can be fonnd but a few instance?; 
in our entire country, where the productiveness of a farm lia? 
been tested to its fullest capacity. Some farmers have ex|)eri.- 
mented, and made eiforts to improve the productiveness of their 
farms for a number of years in close su(;cession; and every year, 
with no extra labor, their crops have proved to be a little more 
abundant. In numerous instances, impoverished and worn-out 
farms have been brought to an excellent state of productiveness, 
with no otlier available resources for efFecting this o))ject than 
what was found in the soil and on the fai*m, 

16. This, then, is what may be denominated progressive agri- 
cult ure. That system of management which will make a poor 
farm a good one, and render a good one more and more produc- 
tive from year to year, will be the system advocated in the fol- 
lowing pages. The time is coming when the details of our farm 
management will be ridiculed and discarded, and when we shall 
see al:)undant crops of golden grain and grass where now those 
crops barely pay the expense of cultivation. And an object so 
desirable will be attained by investigation, by careful experi- 
ments, and by the application of scientific and practical know- 
ledge. This work is already begun; and we are satisfied to be 
permitted to have wrought as a pioneer in an enterprise which 
will, eventually, render the world wiser and happier, and mankind 
better. 

17. When the agriculture of our country is characterized by 
that system of judicious management which will eventually pre- 
vail — when our soils shall have been underdrained as they ought 
to be — when they shall be improved in fertility by manuring 
and more complete pulverization — when our farmers have learned 
how to save — to make — and to apply manure in the most profit- 
able manner — and when they have learned to turn their grain 
into meat which will be worth as much as the grain, while the 
manure of the animals fed will increase the amount of the next 
crop nearly two-fold — then we may not only reckon on our agri- 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 9 

culture as being progressive, but as a system of farming that *' will 
pay," and be worthy of universal adoption. 

PAYING FARMING. 

1 S. Farmmg may pay well in one sense, and at the same timo 
be characterised by an injudicious system of management. Farailng 
may pay well, in one sense, and still be of a retrogressive charac- 
ter. It may pay well the expense of cultivation for a number of 
years in succession, and at the same time be a syster.i of man- 
agemant that is continually impoverishing the soil and render- 
ing it less and less productive. Therefore if we have the assur- 
ance that farming pays well, we have no assurance at all that 
the system of management which has been adopted is a good 
one, and worthy of recommendation. If a system of farm man- 
agement be 80 much of a progressive character t.liat it may be 
said to pay, then it will be consistent for us to speak of it as 
paying farming. 

19. Thousands upon thousands of farmers in America are 
growhig rich by raising grain, cattle, beef, mutton, and pork; 
and they are called good farmers. But the truth is, their prac- 
tices will eventually ruin their soil ; because their system of agri- 
culture is not of a progressive character. The time has already 
come in the New England and in the Middle States — and it is 
fast approaching in the fertile and productive States of the West 
— when it may be said of thousands of acres, of the ch' nicest land 
of the country, that it has been so impoverished by a bad system 
of farm management, the proprietors will not be able to pay the 
interest on th.e land and the expense of cultivation from the 
products of their soil. But if those who may succeed them will 
at once adopt a renovating system, and take suitable measures 
to restore the impoverished soils of our country, we may yet have 
the pleasure of seeing a progressive system of agriculture where 
it is now decidedly bad. One of the first considerations in mak- 
ing improvements in any enterprise is, to obtain a correct idea of 
its iinporiections. 
I* 



10 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MA^JUAL. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES PAYING FARMING I 

20, There is a vast deal written and said, at the present day, 
about " paying farming," or " farming that pays." But not one 
half of those who talk and write upon the subject have any 
correct practical notions of it. ''Paying farming" is not thai 
systeiii of management whicli returns to the possessor the largest 
crops and the greatest percentage on the capital invested. We 
often hear it remarked that such a man is a good farmer be- 
cause " he makes farming pay." See how well his farm is fenced, 
and everything in prime order. But paying farming does not 
consist in good fences, any more than it does in good and sub- 
stantial buildings, and in beautiful yards and ornamental grounds. 
Indeed, good or poor fences and buildings have so little to do 
with paying farming that they cannot, with much propriety, be 
considered any sure index, eitlier one way or the other, as point- 
ing out correctly a paying or non-paying system of management. 
Some of tlie best farmers of the country are allowing their fences 
to go to dilapidation and ruin and to utter disuse ; because the 
expense of erecting and keeping suitable fences in repair con- 
sumes more of the profits than would be incurred by that system 
of management in whicli fences are entirely dispensed with. 

21. Again, we hear it oft'iu repeated, that such a man is a 
good farmer, for he always seems to raise good crops, and to 
make money very fast. There are scores of farmers in our coun- 
try, who are extolled as very excellent farmers, who, if they were 
placed without a large pocketful of ca^h on many farms, where 
farming pays well, would soon become insolvent, and be obliged 
to sell their farms to keep them from starvation. He who pro- 
duces a large crop of anything, by expending large sums of money 
for foreign manure and for unnecessary cultivation, although he 
may receive the appellation of a good and thorough cultivator 
of the soil, cannot be called a good fanner; nor can such a sys- 
tem of management be consistently called "paying farming." 
As important and as desirable a^? capital is in farming, that man 
mmnot be called a good farmer who is obliged to draw funds from 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. IJ 

other sources besides the farm he cultivates, for the purpose of 
defraying the expenses of the farm. If a farmer launches into 
debt beyond the resources of his farm, and gains a great reputa- 
tion for being a good farmer by producing at an enormous ex- 
pense neat cattle, or other stock, or unusually large crops of 
grain by means of a foreign manure, the world will soon see 
that such a system of management is not " paying farming;" 
and that if persisted in it will most surely lead to insolvency 
and ruin. 

22. What, then, is paying farming ? We answer, it is that 
system of management in which our old worn-out farms are re- 
novated from their greatly impoverished condition — the poor land 
rendered good and productive, and the good land rendered better 
— paying the cost of cultivation, and the interest on the capital 
invested; and leaving a profit to the proprietor, all from the re- 
sources of the farm. Paying farming is based upon the supposi- 
tion that the buildings and fences of the farm, and the farm itself, 
are all computed at a fair price or prices for agricultural pur- 
poses. In multitudes of instances farms are bought and sold at 
prices entirely too high for agricultural purposes, and at such 
prices the very best system of management in the world must 
be set down as non-paying farming. 

23. Let us suppose, for example, that a farm of one hundred 
acres is valued at sixty dollars per acre; and is under the best 
system of management, so that it may be said, with great pro- 
priety, ''farming pays " on that farm. Now suppose the cost of 
buildings and fences be increased from their present value five 
thousand dollars, this would increase the value of the farm to 
such an extent that it is quite doubtful whether farming might 
be said to pay in both cases; notwithstanding the farming could 
be said to be paying when the buildings, fences, and so forth, 
were valued at a figure not beyond the available resources of the 
land when under good cultivation. The correct idea is, that a 
system of management may be -a. paying system, and fiirraer-like, 
in every respect, and still be inadequate in its available resour- 
ces to the large interest on unnecessarily expensive buildings or 



12 THE YOUNG FARMRr's MAXUAL. 

on any tiling else which may be computed more as au expense 
than a profit to a farmer, 

WHY FARMING PAYS NO BETTER. 

24. The reasons why farming does not pay better than it ap- 
pears to in multitudes of instances, are as cogent and plausible 
as they are numerous. A few of the chiefest of them will be no- 
ticed in a brief and summary manner. The first and the greatest 
reason why farming does not pay better is, far.nars do not half 
understand managing the various operations of the farm and 
cultivating the soil. They are not masters of their businfJss; and, 
instead of being able to excel in most of the branches of farming, 
they are sadly deficient in the practical understanding of those 
branches which are so essential to their success. Farming is not 
only one of the greatest arts, but is a great science ; and he who un- 
derstands well the proper cultivation of the soil, and the differ- 
snt branches intimately connected with it, is a man of science, 
whether, in a literary point of view, he knows U from an ox bow 
or not. Therefore, as multitudes of farmers are almost entirely 
deficient in a correct understanding of this great art and science, 
they grope along, as if they were blindfolded, without knowing 
whether their practices and systems of management are at all 
correct or decidedly defective. 

25. Another good reason why farming pays no better is, 
farmers do not underdrain their land sufficiently to produce 
either grain, grass, fi'uit or vegetables. In most localities, tak- 
ing the entire country through, the injury done to crops of all 
kinds by an excess of water in the soil will amount to more, in 
dollars and cents, than the damage arising from all other sources. 
Want of proper drainage, then, may be set down as one of 
the first reasons why farming pays no better than it does. 
See Chapter on Soils. Numerous instances occur every year, 
where a field yields sometimes one-fourth, one-third, and even one- 
half more, the next season after it has been underdrained, tlian it 
ever did before in one season, which affords us ocular demon- 
stration that want of drainage is often the greatest reason why 
farming pays no better. 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 13 

26. Another cogent reason is, proprietors of farms do not 
husband their manurial resources sufficiently to keep their soil 
in a good state of fertility. This practice will involve consnm- 
ing a large proportion of the coarse grain raised on the farm; 
thus obtaining the cash value of the grain and other produc- 
tions in the sales of beef, mutton and pork, and retaining a 
lai-ge proportion of the refuse of the crops for improving the fer- 
tility of the soil. 

2t. Among the many other reasons that might be enumerat- 
ed why farming pays no better, are a want of a judicious system 
of rotation of crops, a mixed husbandry, and the general man- 
agement of all the branches of field and in-door agriculture. All 
of these reasons are to be considered in close connection with 
those previously mentioned. But, after all that has been penned, 
everything will depend on the management of the proprietor. A 
poor manager is like a broken link in a good chain, which would 
be worthless, in a certain sense, because one link is broken. So 
it is with farming. If the general management is defective, al- 
though the best systems of agriculture may have been adopted, 
farming cannot and will not pay. By general management is 
meant executing or carrying out the plans and systems that have 
been adopted. This will involve doing everything well, and in good 
time; having a place for everything, and keeping everything in 
its proper place ; as well as what to do, and how to do it. 

WHAT IS NOT SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 

28. Cultivating the soil, as many men do, in such a manner 
that it is less productive every season, is not scientific agriculture. 
Deep plowing of wet soils without under draining ; endeavoring 
to raise large crops without applying some fertilizing matter to 
the soil, to keep it in a good state of fertility ; allowing stock 
of all kinds to become spring poor, during the foddering 
Reason ; making a great show of theoretical and scientific 
knowledge, while practices are adop^^ed inconsistent with science, 
and many other things, which sensible people have denominated 
scientific, are very far from scientific agriculture. 



14 THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

29. When some young city dandy, who has plenty of money, 
starts up to be a farmer; and, with his rarnished and fancifully- 
stenciled implements of husbandry, with his barrels of ground 
bone, bags of phosphate and guano, and with his retinue of 
Tims and Pats, just from the Emerald Isle, none of whom, bose 
or laborer, knows any more about either theoretical or practical 
agriculture than they do about the practical part of wax work; 
they make such droll steerage in everything they attempt to per- 
form, that people laugh in their sleeve and say: " That's scienti- 
fic agriculture I" Illustrious stupidity ! There is not one half 
as much correct scientific agriculture in all of that parade and 
counterfeit cultivation of the soil as there is of the science of 
medicine in a cat's eating catnip to cure the hydrophobia. It is 
a misnomer to call such manoeuvring scientific agriculture. 
Again : people often see some intelligent, theoretical farmer com- 
mence agricultural operation; and his knowledge, for the most 
part, is only theoretical. Of course in executing the details of his 
practice, he as well as those in his employ will work awkwardly 
and unskilfully. They smile at such management and exclaim : 
" That's scientific agriculture I" But the wrong word is used in 
the wrong place. This is nothing but theoretical agriculture. 
There is none of the scientific about it, 

WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE? 

30. Scientific agriculture consists neither in theory or prac- 
tice alone; but in combining the best theory with the most 
approved practice in farming operations. Scientific agriculture 
then involves — not knowing how to analyze soils, but such a 
knowledge of them as will enable a man to adapt the most suit- 
able crops to each particular soil; and also a correct understand- 
ing of the most approved manner of performing all the operations 
connected with raising crops, as well as of keeping the soil in a 
good state of fertility with the materials that the farm affords. 
See this thought more fully elucidated in the Chapter on Manures. 
This last consideration involves a correct understanding of the 
principles of breeding, rearing, and fattening all kinds of domestic 



15 

animals, of saving and applying their manure to the soil, and of 
cultivating the soil and raising grass or grain. All these con- 
siderations, taken in harmonious combination, constitute the sum 
total of scientific agriculture. It matters not if a farmer's library 
consists of only the Holy Bible and the Babes in the Woods, if 
he has a correct understanding of keeping his soil in a good state 
of fertility with only the materials which it affords; and if he raises 
good crops, and secures them well, that fanner's practices may be 
denominated scientific agncuUure. Correct theory and correct 
practice, in the operations of a farm, make up the scientific. But, 
theory or practice alone will not do it. 

31. The Genesee Farmer says: '*It must be confessed that a 
man may have a good theoretical knowledge of agriculture, and 
yet make a poor farmer. Order, system, personal attention 
to details, with steady, persistent industry, will enable a farmer 
to succeed, without the slightest acquaintance with science ; while, 
on the other hand, the most thorough scientific education will be 
of little use to the man who has not these qualities. If a man, 
who has had the advantage of a scientific agricultural education, 
turns farmer, he will be pretty sure to make mistakes which 
will subject him to the ridicule of his neighbors. He may be the 
most quiet of men — ^Ije entirely occupied with his own affairs — 
interfering in no way with those of others. But no matter. 
Those of his neighbors who have less to think about will be sure 
to talk over all that he does, and their comment will not gen- 
erally be of a complimentary kind. Agriculture is slow work. 
A farm cannot be brought into order and a high state of culti- 
vation in a year. It is the labor of a life." 

32. The scientific man who thinks that he can take a farm 
and raise large crops by the use of a few chemical manures, is 
doomed to disappointment. He will be very apt to neglect 
those little details of farm economy which are absolutely essen- 
tial to success. While he is thinking of acids, alkalies, of nitgro- 
gen and phosphates, his cattle will knock down a fence and eat 
up his crops. While he is studying Liebig, his men will be taking 
a siesta in the hay field. Careless hands will soon break his iia- 



16 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

proved implements. Ho may think to economize food by cooking 
it; but without constant surveillance, his men will waste more 
in a day than he can save in a week. They will take plea- 
sure in thwarting all his pet plans; and will harass and perplex 
him in every conceivable way. The end is disappointment and 
disgust. 

33. But it is only the mere dabbler in science that expects 
to revolutionize agriculture. The true scuentific man has moderate 
expectations. He does not know, and never expects to know, 
how to transmute iron into gold, or to raise a hundred bushels 
of wheat per acre, as easily as we now raise ten. If any dis- 
covery he can make, if any modification of present practices will 
increase the productiveness of -the soil five bushels per acre, he 
knows that he would be one of the greatest benefactors of his 
race. Theory cxn never resist facts that have once been fairly 
established. Facts are the leaves of science. Theory alone is 
not scientific. And yet it is too commonly conceded, that if a 
man theorizes much he is a very scientific man. Moore's Rural 
New Yorker says : '' The farmer who is governed in his system 
of farm management by the most extended expei-ience and prac- 
tical observation of the relation of facts to each other, is the most 
sdentljic farmer, no matter whether he ever read a scientific book 
or not. The breeder of sheep, or cattle, who is governed in his 
breeding by laws which his experience has brought out for him, 
is really a scientific breeder, no matter whether his practice con- 
flicts with the rules of theoretical writers or not." 

A SUCCESSFUL FARMER MUST BE A CONSUMER. 

34. Consuming the productions of the soil on the farm where 
they were raised, is a practice which lies at the foundation of 
scientific and successful agriculture. Indeed, it is the only cor- 
rect system of farm management which is worthy of universal 
recommendation. It is true there are numerous histances of good 
agriculture, where everything that a soil produces is transported 
to some other part of the country. But even in such instances, 
i system, which is equivalent to a consuming system, is adopted. 



17 

Near many" of our populous cities every article that the soil has 
produced during the seasou is removed many miles distant, and 
consumed, where no portion of it is ever returned to the soil. 
But in such instances the proprietors are careful to enrich their 
soils with fertilizing materials such as ground bone, poudrette, 
guano, gypsum, lime, or stable manure. 

35. But the large proportion of the farmers of onr country are 
too remote from market to transport a very considerable portion 
of the products of their soil to some place where it may be pro- 
fitably consumed. For this reason, if a farmer would keep his 
soil in a good state of fertility from year to year, so that it will 
be quite as productive — or more so — when he has ceased to be 
proprietor of it, the only correct and feasible system of manage- 
ment, which will enable him to accomplish such an object, will be 
to consume everything that his farm produces, so far as may 
be practicable, at home, and return the refuse and waste ma- 
teiial to the soil. If a man is as intelligent as he should be, these 
suggestions will enable him to adopt soms satisfactory system of 
management, which will be quite as profitable for him in dolbirs 
and cents, and infinitely better for his soil. Read the Introduc- 
tion to Vol. I. 

36. The grand and leading idea on this subject is to use up 
the products of the farm in such a manner as will render the same 
profits to the proprietor that he would receive were he to sell 
them when those products were in a different condition. We 
want to sell the pro-Iucts, and at the same time make such a 
disposition of them that the soil will not be impoverished by 
removing crops from it. We want to keep our cake and eat it 
too, in a certain sense. For example: if a farmer raises one hun- 
dred bushels of Indian corn, his aim should be to use it up in such 
manner that his soil will not be impoverished. The same is true 
of his other crops of cereal grain and grass. By feeding out ony 
hundred busliels of Indian corn in the most economical m.inner, 
and to the best kind of swine, cattle, or sheep, and by saving 
idl their manure and applying it to the soil where the corn grew, 
and by cultivating that soil in a most thorough manner, its fenility 



18 THE vouw; farmer's manual. 

may be improved, and rendered more productive from year to 
year. 

PURCHASING A FARM— ARE YOU A PRACTICAL FARMER? 

37. If you are not, whether you possess an abundance of capi- 
tal to pnrcluise a farm with, or not, my first advice is that you 
spend a year or two on some farm, and gain a correct knowledge 
of the business before you engage in it. There is something 
else to do on a farm than to wallv around th^ fields with gloves 
on, and a staff in hand, and see the crops grow. There is a va-t 
amount of hard labor to be done. And if a man is not able to 
perform much manual labor, he had better not be a farmer. If 
a man invests his money in mortgages or notes, he will usually 
receive his income without mucli thouglit or anxiety. But when 
it is invested in land that must be cultivated, the proprietor 
must be a good farmer, in order to succeed well, in obtaining an 
annual income which will be a fair cquivaler.t for the use o1 
capital invested and for the service performed. And, in addi- 
tion to this, he must keep his property from depreciafeing in value. 
Otherwise, he will soon "come out of the little end of the horu,^' 
as we Americans say of a failure in any enterprise. Thousands' 
of men have fancied tliat farming is a delightful occupation; and 
have engaged in it without knowing any more about its details, 
and the successes and reverses attending it, as a livelihood, than 
a common farmer knows about navigating the ocean. Conse- 
quently, they soon failed to meet with success, simply because 
they did not understand the business. 

38. If you are a practical farmer, and if you like laborious 
and active employment, and can say ayt to the description of a 
farmer in Vol. I., page 14; and if you have come, deliberately, 
to the conclusion to like agriculture — hard or easy, wet or dry, 
cold or hot, great pains with small gains, and vice versa — then 
you are fully prepared to put on your toga and India rubber 
boots, and work your passage to earthly bliss through swar.^ps 
and bogs, hedges and ditches, as well as among stones, stumps 
and heaps of compost. And if you always keep cool and nevor 
fret, glorious success and substantial happiness will eventually 



THE YOUNG FAR>[Er'.-? MANUAL. 19 

encircle you, like a halo of agricultural glory. The next im- 
portant consideratioUj when about to purchase a farm, will bo 

SUFFICIEXT CAPITAL. 

39. There is no other occupation in which capital is more 
important than in agriculture. If a farmer has a limited 
capital, he will often find farming to be disagreeable and 
np-hill business. He cannot expect to succeed without a fair 
siniount of capital, any more than a banker or a tradesman . who 
employs but little in his business. Some cash will be essential, 
in addition to good stock and a good soil. What I moan to have 
understood is, that a farm3r should have capital enough on hand 
to defray his expenses, and a little more. There will ba some im- 
provements to be carried out almost every season. Laborers 
must be paid as they go ; the family must b3 supported ; and a 
man frequently meets with excellent opportunities to purchase 
stock for his farm at a great birgain. For all such things, a 
few hundred dollars of loose capital will be requisite, in order to 
good success. A farmer's main capital will be invested in his 
farm, implements of husbandry, and in his live stock. B.it if he 
has no loose capital besides these, he will too often find himself 
in a position like that of a stranger in a strange country wliose 
property and cash are many hundreds of miles distant from him. 
A fvpeculator never thinks of obtaining his livelihood by buying 
and selling without first obtaining a suitable amount of capital 
with which to transact his business. A farmer, in order to suc- 
ceed, needs capital just as much as a speculator. 

PAY DEBTS AS YOU GO. 

40. At some seasons of tha year, cash appoars to be, neces- 
sarily, paid out much faster than it comes in. When this is 
the case, it will be infinitely better for a man — better for his credit 
— better for his integrity — better for his creditors — better for his 
fiunily — and better in every other point of view — to hire fifty or 
a hundred dollars for a few months, for the purpose of paying small 
bills — little debts — as he goes. Tiiese little five and ten cent 



20 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

bills at the blacksmith^s shop; these little bills at groceries, which 
cannot be avoided conveniently, had better be paid at the time 
they are contracted, even though it were necessary to pay interest 
for a few months on the money to do it with. It is not a good 
practice for a farmer to allow every stroke of a blacksmith's ham- 
mer to be entered on his book. But few men will keep a book 
account for nothing from year to year. And if those with whom 
we are accustomed to deal always understand that a man deals 
in cash, in little debts as well as in large ones, dealers will allow 
that man advantages in prices which a slack paymaster can never 
avail himself of. 

41. When I see a man go to a blacksmith's shop to get a 
tenpenny job done; or to a grocery to trade a few dimes, who 
always says " you may charge this bill ; " and who calculates to 
pay when his creditors feel willing to take their pay in catskins, 
or in a quarter of poor beef, or a leg of some imbecile old buck 
tliat is too old for mntton, I always think, My dear sir, that sys- 
tem of management renders your business more than ten fold 
harder, and more expensive and perplexing, than it would be 
were you to pay your little debts as you go. But fools and silly 
people can never be made to believe it. 

PAY AS YOU GO. 

42. Let me reiterate it in the ears of every young man, 
whose aspirations ever prompt him to be anybody in the world, 
to pay your little debts as you go. Little things make the man. 
Little traits of character enable us to decide with great certainty 
what are a man's cherished affections; and in little things we dis- 
cover manifestations of his ruling passion. The world will measure 
a man by his attention to little things — by his prompriioss in pay- 
ing his little debts. The world will weigh a man's cJiai-acter — not 
by what they hear about him — but by what they see in him. The 
world will speak of a man as they find him, with relv.reuce to his 
maimer of doing business. Among the undesirable and repug- 
nant traits of cvliaracter, this one, of allowing little debts to go 
unpaid, discloses a trait more ignoble than we can discover 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MAXUAL. 21 

in him whose habitual weakness is to debase liimself, by drhiking 
intoxicating beverages to such an extent as to disgrace and ruin 
his character. 

43. Again, let me repeat and reiterate for the last time, '' pay as 
you. guP It will make a man a better citizen to pay all his little 
ilebts as he goes. He will esteem himself more highly for it; and 
til at trait of character will secure for him a degree of respectabil- 
ity, hi every sphere where he may move, that he never can expe- 
rience if he adopts tlie loose, dishonest, unbusiness-like, slip-shod 
kind of a way of paying little debts only when they must be paid. 
Rest assured, my young reader, that your character as a success- 
ful cultivator of the soil will depend, in a far greater degree than 
you may imagine, on your readiness, your promptness and punc- 
tuality, in paying your little debts. 

44. Pay as you go, young man. Pay your little debts. Never 
let it be said of you by any one : "■ That man owes me a dime, or 
a quarter of a dollar; and I would rather lose it than to ask him 
for it.' Pay your day laborers every day, or every week at long- 
est. They will work much better for it. Pay all little debts at 
mechanics' shops as soon as the work is done. They will deal 
cheaper on account of it. Let it be interwoven with the cardi- 
nal virtues of morality and religion, to pay every incidental in- 
debtedness with promptness, with cheerfulness, and without mur- 
muring and grumbling. If a man is not faithful in these Uttle 
transactions, we can cherish no hope that he will pay his indebt- 
edness to the soil which he cultivates, by returning to it, in fer- 
tilizing material of some kind, an equivalent for the crops which 
he has removed. 

45. Pay as you go. For the world is full of unprincipled 
men, sailing under the agricultural flag of the United States 
of America, who run a dishonorable career, and lead a wretch- 
ed life, simply because they never calculate to pay as they go. 
They are always ready and anxious to borrow a dime or a dol- 
lar, whether they have immediate use for it or not. And they 
never make calculations to pay it. Mechanics will always tax 
them a higher price for any article that they may puichase, than 



22 THF, YOUN'G FAP.MKR's MANUAL. 

tliey do a man who pays cash ; because tiicy nover make calcu- 
iatiou to pay. Neiglibors and Mends are never willing; to uccoin- 
modate them ; because they never make calculations to pay. 
Every paper or periodical that they subscribe for, costs one third 
or one fourth more than it does him who pays as he goes ; be- 
cause they do not make calculations to pay when it is due. Tlie 
agriculture of our country is being ruined by the unfarnicrliku 
management of such men. They contracted the loose liabit of 
not paying their little debts as they went along; and thus tlu^y 
fell into the slip-shod practice of not paying the little indebtcil- 
ness to their soil. 

RUNNING INTO DEBT FOR LAND. 

46. We have often read instructions to young farmers, to 
*' avoid running into debt, as one would avoid a deadly pestilence 
or himine." But, for honest men, this is a species of old fogyism. 
For dishonest men — those wlio will borrow, or purchase all 
they have an opportunity to purchase — who never make 
any calculations to pay a debt, such advice would be appli- 
cable. It never is any detriment to an honest man to contract 
debts for a good farm to a limited extent. Indeed, it almost al- 
ways has a tendency to make him a better citizen than he other- 
wise would be, if he owed no man anything but love, and had a 
pocketful of money besides. If an honest, energetic farmer should 
run into debt for a portion of his land, and by good economy, 
and well-directed labor, can manage so as to pay the interest an- 
nually on his indebtedness, and to reduce the principal a little, 
he has a laudable object to prompt him to industry and frugality. 
This has been the making of thousands of our best farmers. And 
my advice would be, don't fear to run into debt for a portion of 
a good farm, providing you do not pay more per acre for it tliaa 
it is really worth for agricultural purposes; and, providing you 
can discover some sure way to keep it good, to pay the interest, 
and u small proportion of the indebtedness every year. The only 
correct way of determining this point , satisfactorily, will be to 
compute the interest on the capital invested; the probable ex- 



T3E YOUNG FAKMEr's MANUAL. 23 

l^onse of cuHivation; the expense of manuring, in order to keep 
it in a ^ood state of fertility; and to compare the amount with 
the aggregate value of the produce for one year. The difference 
will exhibit a sum tliat will enable the proprietor to decide wlns- 
ther he will be able, in the course of a few years, to pay for his 
farm ; or whether he will be obliged to labor hard all his days 
without accumulating enough to defray tlie expense of a respec- 
tablj burial. 

THE PRICE OF LAND TOO HIGH FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 

47. A large proportion of the improved land of our coun- 
try is held at a price quite too high to pay the legal interest, 
and the expense of cultivation, when it is appropi'iated to agri- 
cultural purposes. For tliis reason, young farmers, in particular, 
should be cautious ab">ut running into debt, for any considerable 
portion of a farm, with the expectation of paying off the in- 
debtedness from the sales of the products of that farm. If a 
man has the money on hand to pay for a situation; and is not 
particular whether his Goil will pay the interest and expens-e of 
cultivation, from year to year, this advice will be of no practical 
utility. Our aim is to aid those who need assistance; and to 
counsel those who are seeking for advice, that will aid them at a 
time when a little help will be of great value to them. It is an 
easy thing for one to make an estimate of the probable expense 
of cultivating a hundred acres of land for a year, and of the 
probable income from the sale of the products of the soil; and 
then deduct the amount of taxes, and repairs, and improvements; 
and to strike a balance, as an equivalent for his services. But 
he must be a good practical man — well acquainted with all the 
details in every branch of his business — before he can form a cor- 
rect estimate on every point. 

48. In making this estimate, however, it will be necessary to 
be able to decide, correctly, as to the amount of cash products of 
a farm for several successive seasons. For example: if land be 
valued at one hundred dollars per acre, and will produce three 
tons of hay per acre, valued at fifteen dollars per ton, 



21 THE YOUNG FARMEFt's MANUAL. 

aft(;r it has been delivered at the market, then tliere will be 
the interest on that one hundred dollars annually; the lax on 
the land; the cost for fertilizers to keep the soil good, which 
shall be equivalent to the crop of hay removed; and all the otlier 
expenses attending the hay crop, not omitting a portion of the 
expense of tools and implements with which to perform the la- 
bor. And it must be kept in mind, also, that a soil must be in 
an excellent state ot fertility to yield three tons of good hay, by 
actual weight, per acre. And that degree of fertility must bo 
maintained; and the expense of maintaining it will often be 
much greater than those are accustomed to suppose, who are not 
familiar with all the details incident to the lai)ors of the field, 
the stable, and stock barns. 

49. Again, we will suppose that the soil is to be grazed, in- 
stead of plowed. Now then, here will be the interest on the land, 
the taxes; the cost of fertilizing material to keep the soil good, 
and the expense of making butter or cheese; or, taking care of 
fattening bullocks; or the expense incurred in growinsj: wool, and 
mutton. As all the items above named are valued at different 
prices in dififjrent localities, it will be necessary to compute the 
price of each as it corresponds with its respective locality. Ano- 
ther important consideration will be the 

DIFFERENCE, IN VALUE, BETWEEN GOOD LAND AND POOR. 

50. When a man contemplates purchasing a farm, he is apt 
to think more of the location and view than of almost anything 
else. True, it is convenient to be near the post oITlxs and the 
R. R. depot, and the steam boat landing, and places of public 
business. But every one cannot be located withhi a few minutes^ 
walk or drive of such public places. And the nearer one locates 
to such places, the more expensive, per acre, the land will be; 
and, in many instances, the poorer and less productive it is. But 
the price per acre almost always increases as one approaches such 
places. In tlie selection of a farm, the soil should be thoroughly 
examined, to ascertain whether it is naturally barren or fertile. 
If it is naturally poor, thin and unproductive, and comcvvhat wet, 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 25 

it must be purchased at a low figure indeed, or the proprietor 
will have a task before him, and a debt on his hands that will 
" bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave," before he 
will be able to make farming pay. 

51. When a man pays sixty, seventy, eighty, or more dollars 
per acre, for land that is not worth, for agricultural purposes, 
more than fifteen or twenty dollars, and which will not pay the 
interest of six per cent., at tweiky dollars per acre, I want to tell 
him, "he has paid too dear for his whistle"; and the most profit- 
able shift he can make will be to dispose of his poor land, even at 
ten dollars per acre, if he can get no more If a man purchase 
poor, unproductive land, he should be certain to get it at a low 
price. It will be infinitely better to pay one hundred, or even 
two hundred dollars per acre, for land that is naturally produc- 
tive, and in a good state of fertility, and that does not need an 
expenditure of more than half its value per acre, to put it in even 
an ordinary state of fertility, than to purchase a poor soil at a low 
price. 

52. Let me illustrate this subject in a practical point of view. 
Belonging to the farm that I once owned, there were certain 
fields which were, to "all natural appearances, exactly like the 
fields of my neighbor, just over the fence. He valued his land at 
as many d-jllars, per acre, as I did my own; and the estimated 
valuation of both farms by the Town Assessors was about the 
same number of dollars per acre. He raised oats; and I also 
raised oats, one season, on a field close by the side of his. He 
told me that his field averaged, per acre, twenty tliree busliels 
of clear oats. My field averaged seventy bushels of much nicer 
oats than his. The yield of Indian corn on his field was about 
half as much as on mine. The same field of mine yielded about 
forty two bushels of buckwheat per acre; while his yielded, he 
said, about ten or twelve bushels per acre. And the amount of 
wheat on my field was more than twice as much, per acre, as on 
his. And when we come to pasture, one acre of my pasture sus- 
taurod more stock than three acres of his. 

53. But people w^ould say almost uniformly: " your farm is 
2 



26 



^IIE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 



worth much more per acre, because your buildings are so muclj 
better than his." The much larger quantity of produce that m^ 
fields yielded per acre more than his was hardly thought of, Now, 
if my soil could produce more than twice as much per acre, wasil 
not worth at least twice as many dollars per acre as his ? Most 
certainly so. Consider, for a moment, how much must be expend- 
ed in procuring fertilizers for a long succession of years, before 
it could be brought up to a state of equal fertility and productive- 
ness with my fields. While his fields would produce only about 
enough to pay the expense of cultivation, from year to year, m^ 
fields would yield enough to purchase themselves more than twice 
over, in addition to paying the expense of cultivation, and of keep, 
ing the soil in a good state of fertility. There may be fieldS; 
on a great many farms, all over our country, that are bought and 
sold, every few years, which have produced grain enough, during 
those few years, not only to pay for their own cost per acre, but to 
pay for other portions of the same farm which were too poor to 
yield enough to pay for them^^elves. That will be the kind of 
land to purchase. Bat the grand difficulty is, a young farmei 
does not know positively \y\\q\\ he has found such a farm, 

POOR FARMS OP NEW ENGLAND. 

54. I have seen thousands of acres in New England, and in 
some other States also, that would not yield fifteen hundred pounds 
of hay per acre, and grain in the same ratio, which had been 
bought and sold, and sold again and again, at cash prices per 
aci'e, which could not be paid from the sales of all the products 
that could be raised on it, for more than thirty years to come. 
He]X3in lies the great error; certain fields on certain farms wili 
yield enormous crops of grass, grain or roots, enough to delray 
all the expenses of cultivation, the interest and the taxes. There 
is no danger of paying too much for such land per acre. But 
there is great danger of estimating the cash value of poor land 
too highly; and no error is more common — often among intel- 
ligent farmers too — than to estimate the productiveness of such 
poor soils by what they are capable of being rendered after 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MAXITAL. 2T 

expending half their cash vaUie in improvements on them 
rather than making an estimate of their present value, while in 
their unproductive condition. It will be better every way to pay 
a large price for good land, than to purchase poor land at even a 
figure correspondingly low. 

WHEN AND HOW TO EXAMINE A FARM. 

55. When a man goes into the forest for the purpose of pur- 
chasing timber that has been cut down, does he select a time 
when it is all covered with a deep snow ? Never. But in 
most instances, when men purchase farms, they examine them 
rt^hen there is little else to be seen besides huge snow banks, trees 
and fences. They travel around and examine the boundaries, and 
the fences and buildings ; and they inquire what kind of produce 
has been raised; and how much the yield was per acre. And 
after they have finished a satisfactory examination, they know 
just as much about that farm as they did before they made 
an examination and usually not any more. Men do not in- 
tend to lie right out; but I know — yes, that's the correct 
word — I know that most men, v.^hen they are interrogated as to 
how many bushels of a certain kind of grain they have raised per 
icre, will answer, " Well, about so many. It was a splendid 
3rop ! Why, you never saw such heavy grain or grass !" I 
have heard men affirm that they had sixty bushels of barley 
per acre, of splendid grain, and forty bushels of wheat, which 
would all make excellent seed ! " when they knew, and I knew, 
that there was not an acre in their whole county that yielded 
that amount. Here is the point on which young farmers will be 
deceived, concerning the productiveness of a soil. -A man wants to 
5ee the soil; see it plowed; see the crops growing on it; see them 
at harvest time; and to examine the grain after it comes to ma- 
turity. What can one learn of the productiveness of a soil when 
it is all covered up with a deep snow ? His judgment will tell 
him that there is a soil beneath the snow; but it may be so bar- 
ren that it would not yield white beans. There is a vast deal 
of such land in our country. And to the proprietor, it is like 



28 Tin 

self-righteousness — the more one possesses of it, the worse it always 
will be for him. 

56. Were I about to purchase a farm, I would make exten- 
sive inquiry concerning its productiveness in years past; and en- 
deavor to learn what had been the system of management on it 
during previous years. Then, I would visit it — not when it was 
covered with a deep snow — but in the spring, both when it wa^- 
very wet, everywhere, as well as when dry. I would see the soil 
plowed up and undergoing pulverization. At harvest time I would 
visit it again, before the crops were gathered; and go among the 
standing grain or grass. It is an easy matter to be deceived, 
when looking at a field of grain, unless one goes among it. A 
crop will appear, many times, to be a heavy one, as it is viewed 
from simply passing by it. But, when a man goes among the 
standing grain of a field, he can see what it produces. And what 
he can see with his q^n eyes, and handle with his own hands, he 
will need no further information about. 

57. Here is one other important suggestion. In case a field 
has not been plowed for many years, if it be well sodded over with 
grass, the soil will be good. But, if the grass has disappeared, and 
a field has many bare spots, where there is no vegetation at all, I 
would travel on. If blackbeiTy bushes, Canada thistles, milk weed, 
bull thistles, and other similar noxious weeds were flourishing lux- 
uriantly, and vicing with each other for the ascendancy, I would 
select that soil as a good one. The larger those noxious weeds 
would grow, the more productive the soil will prove to be. This 
f;ign will never deceive us. If those noxious plants were small and 
slender, where there was nothing to hinder their growth, I would 
defer purchasing, till I could find a soil that would produce Canada 
thistle ^> so large, that if a swath were moved through them, it would 
be difficult to induce animals to go among those that arc standing. 
At the present writing, a friend of mine has just returned, with his 
family, from the highly extolled A^ine Land, after having sacrificed 
half his estate to remove them , and the other half of it to return. 
His wife, who was a good farmer, refused to unpack their goods 
when she saw tlie face of the country; because she said there was 



29 

not herbage enoiigli to keep a cow. And if a cow could^nt live 
they surely must starve. 

THE WAY TO COMMENCE FAr^.^IiyTG. 

*' Here, then our task begins. Tis pleasant toil 
To tend thd flocks and herds, and break the soil.'* 

58. As soon as a man becomes proprietor of a farm, with a, 
design to pursue the cultivation of the soil, for his livelihood, if 
he is an intelligent and thoughtial man, his first inquiry will be, 
what system of farm management can I adopt which will enable 
me to distinguish myself as a successful agriculturist; or which 
will return to me a fair equivalent for the capital invested, as well 
as a satisfactory remuneration for my labor; and at the sam3 
time leave my farm in a condition quite as productive — or even 
more so — than it was, when I commenced farming operations. No 
problem in geometry was ever more difScult to solve. There is 
the farm; and here are the forces to work it. And so we may 
say in another respect: there is the piano, and here is the music to 
be played. But what are these without musical talent and musical 
skill ? And what is a farm, and tools, and implements, and 
forces without knowledge and skill to manage them ? Tiie first 
thing will be to plot the farm properly. Tiie details for doing 
this will be found in Volume I. p. 29. The next step to be taken 
will be to adapt the crops to the quality of the soil. Read the 
remarks on this subject in the Chapter on Soils. Then, if any 
portion of it be wet, calculations should be made to drain it as 
soon as may be practicable. Read Chapter on Draining in VoL 
I. The next consideration will be to adopt 

A SYSTEM OF MIXED HUSBANDRY. 

" One cow, and a pig, and a lamb and a calf, 
And plenty of corn, good husbandry hath." 

Edwards. 

59. It is universally acknowledged, I believe, by the most 
successful farmers, not only in the Old World but in America, 
that a mixed kivsb.indry — rearing and feeding neat cattle, sheep 



so THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 

end swine, in connection with raising grain — lies at the founda- 
tion of successful and progressive agriculture. Still it is not de- 
nied that there is mucli good agriculture in the world whicli pays 
well, and which might be called progressive farming, where not 
a hoof is kept from one year to the other. But in order that 
agriculture may be paying, and the same time a self-sustaining 
system, the only reliable way is, to keep more or less stock, and con- 
sume a large proportion of the coarse grain which is raised on the 
farm. If a farmer has an abundance of surplus capital with 
which he can purchase guano, ground bone, pouilrette, or other 
fertilizers, he may keep his soil good, and raise large crops of grain 
or grass without keeping stock of any kind. But this would not 
be such a system of farm management as I would endorse or re- 
commend to those who are about to commence farm operations. 
The great idea jn mixed husbandry is, to commence with a limited 
capital, and to adopt such a system of management as will return 
capital enough to defray the expense of cultivation and pay for 
the improvements on the farm, and leave a profit towards paying 
for the land, and, at the same time, not impoverish the soil at all; 
but, on the contrary, improve its fertility from year to year. 

60. What I desire to have understood by a mixed husbandry 
is, a system of farm management in which raising grain consti- 
tutes only a portion of a farmer's employment; while raising 
stock of some kind is a chief part of his business. In other 
words, raising stock and growing grain on the same farm pos- 
sesses decided advantages over that system of husbandry in 
which nothing but grain is grown or stock reared. A system 
of mixed husbandry involves all the good practices to which 
we have made allusions in this chapter. And it may not be amiss 
to allude to some of the immediate advantages arising from such 
a system. I have my mind on a man who owned only a small plot 
of land, who raised an excellent crop of Indian corn every season 
for twenty-two successive years on one field. No other crop was 
ever grown on that field during that period. And the twenty- 
second crop yielded a larger number of bushels of good grain 
than the first, or any other crop during that period of time. 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 31 

He always kept two good cows, and fattened two excellent hogs; 
and most of the manure that they made was applied to the soil 
where his corn grew. 

61. This instance affords us an example of mixed husbandry 
on a limited scale. But it was by no means a perfect, or even a com^ 
mendable system of agriculture. If he had adopted, in connection 
with this system, a three or four years rotation-of-crops system, the 
Indian corn which was raised the twenty-second year would have 
been heavier, and the system a most complete one. Let us notice 
wherein it could have been improved. The soil and locaUty were 
well adapted to raising wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, beans, or 
grass. Now, as Indian corn requires certain elements of the soil 
different from wheat, oats or barley, by growing a crop of In- 
dian corn every season on that same soil, there was an extraordi- 
nary demand for those fertilizers only which Indian corn required. 
There was a great abundance of material in the soil that would 
have produced oats, barley, and wheat, which the roots of Indian 
corn would not take up. Here, then, we may perceive, and can 
appreciate the excellence and importance of adopting 

A ROTATION SYSTEM IN CONNECTION WITH MIXED HUSBANDRY. 

62. Had the man alluded to in the preceding paragraph 
T'lised wheat, barley and oats, in connection with his Indian corn, 
there would have been opportunity for the corn-producing mater- 
ial in his soil to accumulate, during three or four seasons, even 
while tlie soil produced a good crop of other grain. Then, after 
four years of good cultivation, the corn-producing material would 
hare been so abundant, that instead of fifty bushels of grain of 
an ordinary quality, twice that amount would have been pro- 
duced with the same cultivation. If a farmer desires to raise 
bountiful crops of any kind of grain or grass, he cannot expect 
to be able to do it on a »oil that has been exhausted of most of 
those substances which are required to produce that kind of grain. 
But ))y raising stock in connection with growing gi"ain; by feed- 
iijg out u large portion of coarse grain to animals; by husband- 
ing all the resources for saving and preparing fertilizing mate- 



552 THE YOUNG FARilER^S MANUAL. 

rials for the soil; and by adopting a judicious system of rotation 
croj)S which are adapted to the soil and to the locality, the grain- 
producing material which is especially adapted to promoting the 
growth of each kind of grain will have time to accumulate in 
the soil, so that whenever a given crop of grain or grass is to be 
grown, there will be such an abundance of it, that not only the 
stalks, but the grain will be large in quantity, and superior in 
quality. 

G3. In case a farmer keeps sheep in connection with grain 
raising, he will want one or more cows to furnish milk and but- 
ter. Then, lard will be very essentia! tor culinary purposes, to 
say nothing of the value of pork for food. Then, a span or two 
of good horses will be indispensable; and if a farm is large, it 
will be necessary to keep two spans of horses or a yoke of good 
oxen. See Horses vs. Oxen for a Team, All these animals are 
absolutely necessary, even on a grain farm. Therefore where 
such animals are kept, we have all the elements of a good system 
of mixed husbandry to begin with. And now, if everything be 
arranged harmoniously in connection with a judicious system of 
rotation of crops — providing all the manure is made and saved 
and properly applied that can be; and if the soil is thoroughly 
drained where it is too wet, and properly cultivated, and every 
operation performed in good time and in a farmer-like manner — 
we may rest assured that success will as certainly attend the ef- 
forts of the husbandman, as we are sure that the promise of *' seed 
time and harvest shall not cease." Gen. viii. 22. 

RAISING AND FATTENING CATTLE AND SHEEP, 

64, In order to come fully up to the standard and practice of 
a thrifty and successful cultivator of the soil, every farmer should 
calculate to keep some kind of stock — neat cattle or sheep — to 
consume and to work into manure the corn stalks, straw and 
coarse grain. It is, and always has been, and always will be, 
" penny-wise and pound-foolish " policy to keep poor animals, or to 
keep animals poor. It has ever been a mystery that I could 
not unravel, why multitudes of farmers could be so regardless 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 33 

of their own interests as to allow their animals to come into the 
barnyard in a thrifty, fleshy condition in late autumn, and to 
return to the pasture in the succeeding sprin;^ greatly emaciat* 
cd, like the lean kine of Pharaoh. Gen. xli. 3. It is the worst 
policy on the whole farm to allow animals of any kind to grow 
poor. A farmer should not attempt to keep one more animal 
than he can keep in a growing thrifty condition. It will be far 
better to keep one good cow, or calf, or bullock, or sheep, and 
allow it to have all that it can eat, aqd a little to spare, than to 
keep so many that they must gnaw all day before they will b3 
able to fill themselves. And besides, it is bad policy to have grass 
gnawed into the earth at any season of the year; and especially 
in late autumn and early in the spring. Most farmers try to 
keep too many half-starved animals. But it is a practice which 
deserves the severest condemnation. One good well-fed cow will 
yield more milk, and butter, or cheese than two half-fed, poverty- 
stricken cows. It will be far better for the farm, and bet- 
ter every way, to keep cows so well, that they will yield milk 
enough to produce from two to three hundred pounds of butter 
each in a year, than it will be to keep so many that not more 
than 100 lbs. can be realized from each cow. Ard it will be more 
profitable to keep but one hog, or one sheep, or fat steer, than to 
allow two animals to be fattened on an allowance that one would 
consume. 

65. I have always acted on the policy that it is better to save 
a pound of fat or flesh than to attempt to produce it ; and it is 
better for a farm — better for a man's pocket — better for animals, 
and infinitely more satisfactory in every point of view — to pro- 
tect animals from the inclement cold and pelting storms than it 
is to compel them to protect themselves. Every cold and stormy 
night that an animal is compelled to lie out unprotected, costs 
his ownei' not less than the price of a pound of the best flesh or 
erf tallow. This assertion cannot be refuted. And many times 
it will cost him as much in cash material as he would be obliged 
to pay for his own lodging for a night at a good country hotel. 
No farmer should think of attempting to keep any animals in a 



34 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

clinifitc like ours without suitable sheds or stables for protection, 
during autumnal and winter storms. One severe storm in Nov. 
will use up more of an animal's fat and flesh, if it is not protect- 
ed, than it will gain in seven days. Animals are composed of 
flesh and blood; and they, like us, feel the cold changes in au- 
tumn as well as we do; and experience the same inconvenience, 
in a measure, that we would if unprotected. 

BEGINNING WRONG AND ENDING RIGHT. 

66. By following in the wrong path, one will most certainly 
arrive at a wrong place. This holds good in morals and religion, 
as well as in agriculture. But in case a farmer begins wrong, if 
he can only manage to end right — no, it will not be as well in 
agriculture as it would be if he began right. When I commen- 
ced farming operations, most of my farm had been much impover 
ished by a long succession of exhausting crops which had been 
carried off; and but little, if anything, returned to the soil. With- 
out any cash ahead to invest in any improvements, Ifollowed in 
the train of most farmers for two years, when I became convinced 
that I must commence a renovating system, or emigrate. I had 
lots of straw and corn stalks and hay; but before grass appear- 
ed in the spring, I was compelled to look up a little hay, which 
always disappeared like the morning dew before a summer sun. 
Disheartened at such a sy^:tem of management, I resolved to turn 
square about, and make a better use of my knowledge in econo- 
mizing my coarse fodder. In the first place, a railway horse 
power was purchased, with which I did my own thrashing. A few 
hundred bundles of grain were -thrashed and cut with a little hay 
and cornstalks; and every animal, from a calf to a team, received 
a regular allowance of cut feed, with never less than one quart 
of good meal each per day, or twice a day, unless they had a 
good supply of hay. But they always received it not less than 
once a day. After the first lot of feed was consumed, another 
lot was ])repared, and fed in the same manner. 1 never waited 
in the fall for animals to commence to grow poor before they 
were fed with a little moal. Good sheds, and stalls to feed in, were 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 8i 

immediately prepared, not only for protecting stock, but for shel- 
tering the manure. I never retired to rest until I knew that 
every animal had enough to eat and to drink, and a good com- 
fortable place to lie down, where it could enjoy rumination and 
quiet rest. 

67. In autumn, I practised purchasing a few good steers; 
and kept them well all winter; and in the spring increased 
their feed of meal, and let them have grass a few weeks — ^iiot 
omitting their meal — when they would command a ready price, 
that would make my neighbors, who practised the old system of 
feeding, exclaim, '* What a thumping price you got for your 
steers ! " I well remember that the first lot of steers I fed all 
winter, stalling them in the night, returned me more than one 
dollar per bushel for the meal which they consumed, and a fair 
pr:c3 for their hay, and left a lot of most excellent manure. The 
market value of such meal was less than fifty cents per bushel. 
My animals were also kept in a close yard, so that none of their 
manure was lost. 

FATTENING SWINE. 

68. Although a separate chapter will be appropriated to 
rearing and fattening swine, in the Chapter on Raising Stock, still 
I consider it proper in this place to pen a few general remarks on 
that important branch of agriculture. Many farmers fail to allow 
this branch of mixed husbandry to occupy very much of a place in 
their farm management, because they cannot make it pay. And 
the true reason why they fail to make it pay is, they do not manage 
right with their swine. In the first place, let a farmer prepare a 
good pigger}^, where he can keep swine always confined, unless it 
is desirable to allow them to run in the orchard. They should 
have the benefit of a small yard also, close to the piggery. 

69. Now procure a good sow of some excellent breed; and 
manage so as to have a litter of pigs early in the season ; and feed 
the sow well, and keep them growing. If a pig is ever allowed to be 
stunted, it will require a long time and much feed to get him again 
iu a thrifty condition. As soon as they begin to feed well at the 



36 THE YOUNG FARMER's MAXUAL. 

trough, if a man has a few cows, the pigs may be weaned. There 
is nothhig equal to milk to give pigs a start. Let their meal be 
equal quantities of oats, Indian corn, and wheat. Never feed 
whole grain, except new peas. Oatmeal and wheat-flour will 
develope the frame and muscles far better than Indian corn meal. 
Always scald the meal for them. Scalded meal will fatten them 
full one-third more than raw meal. Mingle the milk of the dairy 
with the scalded meal. Let the piv^s have some grass also. Red 
clover mowed for them will be excellent. Keep them growing 
every day. Most farmers simply keep their pigs on dish water 
and grass, and a little whole grain until autumn ; and then push 
them in fattening. I always managed with my swine so as to keep 
them growing all summer and all the fall, until they were ready 
to kill. 

70. I used to raise a crop of peas for them. And as soon 
as they were ripe, commenced feeding on peas in connection with 
the kind of feed just mentioned. When the peas became dry and 
hard, they were ground with Indian corn, and the meal was 
scalded. Regularity in feeding swine, and feeding just as much 
as they will consume at every meal, three times a day, I always 
found to be one of the most important considerations in their 
management. Without this, no man can expect to find it profit- 
able to make pork. I used to feed some boiied potatoes, pump- 
kins, and apples, mingled with the milk. But I never fed whole 
grain ; and seldom fed any meal that had not been scalded. And 
another source of great profit I always found to be in saving 
their manure and applying it to the soil. These few thoughts 
will enable young farmers to begin right. The details connected 
with each subject alluded to under this head will be found in the 
Chapter on Swine. 

PASTURING CATTLE AND SHEEP TOGETHER. 

71. Sheep will tlu'ive far better when confined in the same 
field with neat cattle than tlie cattle will. And neat cattle — 
vvlietiier they be milk cows, young bullocks, yearlings or calves — 
will thrive mucli better when no sheep arc allowed to graze iu 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. ST 

their pastures, eyen if there always ai)penrs to be an abundant 
supply of oTass. Sheep, usually, nip the young and tender grass 
much closer than neat cattle. Consequently, when sheep and neat 
cattle are required to graze in the same field, the sheep will sub- 
sist almost entirely on the youngest and tenderest grass in the 
field ; while cattle must take up with a second quality of grass, 
which the sheep have run over, and from which they have select- 
ed the tenderest and best. 

72. It is not a commendable system of farm management to keep 
sheep, horses and neat catth all in one pasture. Horses and neat 
cattle will thrive equally well together in the same pasture ; but it is 
not good policy to let sheep have an equal chance in a good 
pasture with neat cattle and horses. For this reason, a farmer 
will find it to be a better system of management to keep nothing 
but sheep ; or nothing but neat cattle and horses in the same 
pastures, and at the same time. If a farmer desire to keep both 
sheep and neat cattle, the cattle should precede the sheep in 
every pasture some three or four days. By this arrangement 
the cattle will be enabled to have an equal advantage with the 
sheep in grazing the young and fresh grass. 

WHAT KIND OF STOCK TO KEEP. 

73. The kind of soil that a man cultivates, in connection with 
the crops he raises, should determine, in a great degree, what 
kind of stock he should keep on his farm. There is as much 
science and good philosophy in adapting the right kind of 
stock to the soil, as there is in adapting the right kind of crops 
to the soil. This is a consideration that is seldom thought of 
by farmers as a class ; but when a farmer is about to commence 
stocking his farm, this is a subject that is intimately connected 
with his success and profits. 

14. Let us particularize on this point. We will suppose, for 
example, that the soil of a man's farm is a fertile and productive 
one, and well adapted to raising heavy crops of all kinds of cereal 
grain. If it will produce abundant crops of wheat, barley, oats 



33 TDE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

and Indian corn, wc liave the best assurance that it will yield 
heavy ero})s of the best kind of grass. Therefore we may cou- 
chide that the soil will support thoroughbred animals of the 
largest size, whether they be neat cattle or sheep. If neat cattle 
be selected to stock such a farm with, perhaps those that have a 
large infusion of the Durham blood will be found quite as profit- 
able, and doubtless more so, than any other breed that can be 
selected. Rich soils will produce heavy burdens of grass; and 
heavy crops of grass will surely make large and profitable cattle. 
75. If a farmer prefer to raise sheep instead of neat cattle, 
then it will be the wisest policy to select such breeds as will yield 
the greatest profit, both for wool and mutton. Enough can be 
written on this subject to make one or more long chapters, and 
the details of managing sheep would occupy more space than 
the limits of this work will afford. If a soil be rather thin, 
and somewhat hilly, with barren and unproductive ridges, 
knolls, low wet swales, and not at all adapted to the produc- 
tion of wheat, and will yield only small crops of oats, Indian 
corn, flax, and consequently a scanty herbage for animals, then 
it will be policy to select a different breed of cattle which 
have small frames and small bones, and which will make plump 
and handsome animals for beef. In the line of neat cattle, 
there is no better for such farms than the Devons, except it 
be for dairy purposes. The Devons will thrive well on the 
best of soil ; and on soils of an inferior character they will suc- 
ceed nuich better than neat cattle of a larger breed, like those, 
i'w example, that resemble the Durhams, that are nearly or quite 
thoroughbred. Then, when the selection is made with reference 
to sheep, in most instances full-blooded South Down, or a cross 
between the Spanish or American Merino and the South Down, 
will usually be found quite as successful and profitable, both for 
wool and mutton, as any other breed. And they will be much 
more profitable, in most instances, than the large-framed and loug- 
wooled sheep. If the chief object bo wool, the American or 
Spanish moriuo will be best. 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 89 

SHEEP VS. CATTLE ON GRAIN FARMS. 

T6. This is a subject in which the taste and fancy of a farmer will 
be involved, when we inquire concerning the profits in rearing the 
different animals. It is important — as we have seen in a preced- 
ing paragraph under Mixed Husbandry — that either sheep or 
neat cattle should be raised on every farm in connection with 
growing grain. Therefore, if a farmer's fancy and taste incline to 
raising sheep, either for wool alone or for wool and mutton, more 
than towards raising neat cattle, he will succeed the best in 
raising sheep; and if he is what is colloquially denominated "a 
great cattle man," he will find it most agreeable, as well as most 
profitable, to raise neat cattle. 

*I7. Raising either neat cattle or sheep will be found profit- 
able in connection with raising grain, when the business is con- 
ducted according to the most approved system of management. 
If the clean profit is the paramount consideration, without any 
regard to a man's taste and fancy for sheep or cattle, then we can 
give a few leading thoughts on this point, which will be appro- 
priate to this chapter, provided every part of the business is con- 
ducted according to the details alluded to above. It is impos- 
sible to state whether neat cattle will be more profitable than 
sheep until we know something of the breeds of each kind of ani- 
mals, and the prices of mutton, wool and beef. If a farmer be 
required to operate on borrowed capital to a certain extent, and 
he desire to make }:)i'ompt returns in a limited time, sheep will be 
better adapted to his circumstances than neat cattle or horses. 
The reason for this is obvious. Sheep will furnish an annual re- 
venue from the sales of wool and mutton ; whereas it will be more 
profitable to keep young cattle until they are three or four years 
old before they are sold for beef. 

78. Many farmers contend that sheep will be more profitable 
than neat cattle on any farm, and under all circumstances; and 
this coincides well with my own experience, if the right breed be 
selected. Of course this includes not only profits which will 
accrue from the sales of wool, mutton and beef, but the advan- 



40 THE YOUNG FAllMEH'S MANUAL. 

tagcs arising from the fertilizing matter that will be left by sheep 
and neat cattle, which will go to improve the fertiUty of the soil. 

THEIR EXPENSES AND PROFITS CONTRASTED. 

79. It is safe to assume in the outset, that a farmer can take 
care of one or two thousand d<.)llars' worth of sheep, with less 
labor and at less expense, and get quicker returns in trade, than 
he can if his stock consists of one or two thousand dollars' worth 
'^f neat cattle. Now, allowing that all the resources for manure 
and fertilizers are carefully husbanded, whether one keeps neat 
cattle or sheep; and allowing that each kind of animal will be 
constantly abstracting fertilizing matter from the soil for making 
bones, nmtton and wool, or bones, hair and beef, the difference 
will not amount to any definite sum in favor or against either 
kind of animal. 

80. Sheep w^ill appropriate the bone-forming material of the 
soil which consists of phosphates, to make their wool, bones and 
mutton; and neat cattle will require a much larger supply for the 
formation of comparatively larger frames. But when we couio 
to take into consideration the labor and food required to keep 
each kind of animal, there will be a difference in favor of sheep. 
During the foddering season, a thousand dollars' worth of sheep 
can be cared for and protected with comfortable sheds, and fed 
with stalks, straw, hay and grain, at a less expense than cattle. 
For feeding neat cattle and horses, grain must be ground very 
fine in order to obtain all the nourishment from it that it is 
capable of yielding. But for feeding sheep — unless they have 
poor teeth — it need not be ground, whether one feeds peas, In- 
dian corn or oats; as sheep will masticate every kernel in a 
thorough manner. But neat cattle and horses will not do this. 
Therefore, here will be an additional expense of grinding the 
grain, when cattle are kept. But during the summer, sheep 
will require much more attention than cattle. 

81. On a grain farm — so far as my own experience has ex- 
tended — the straw of the cereal grain, the cornstalks, coarse 
grain, and hay, may all be worked into manure with less labor 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAT^ 41 

by keeping good slieep than with neat cattle or horses. By feed- 
ing a flock of good wethers or dry ewes one pound of oil 
meal each daily, or one pound of Indian corn, and all the good 
straw they will consume, with a little hay or cornstalks, they can 
be kept during the winter with a little labor. And with this 
amount of feed they will thrive well, and make excellent mutton 
after they have been allowed to feed on grass for ten or twelve 
days. The great difficulty in keeping neat cattle will be in get- 
ting a herd that will be as equal in size and feeding qualities as a 
flock of sheep. For this reason, every animal must have a se- 
parate stall; and perhaps a little different feed. Then there will 
be the stalls to clean out and to litter every day, which will re- 
quire no small amount of labor to keep every thing in proper or- 
der. 

BEGINNING FARMING OPERATIONS— FRUIT. 

82. One of the first jobs which a farmer ought to perform, 
when he commences farming operations, is planting fruit trees, es- 
pecially apple trees. A man wants fruit of all kinds for his family; 
and if he should raise more apples than he can dispose of advan- 
tageously, they will be about as profitable as grain — when fed in 
connection with it— for sheep, neat cattle, horses and swine. All 
of these animals like apples; and they will often be of more value, 
when consumed by stock, than to sell in the market. As we 
do not propose to give details concerning the cultivation of fruit 
of any kind, we must refer the reader to some of the leading 
works on fruit culture, of which quite a number have been pub- 
lished, and which cover ihe subject. There is one consideration, 
however, that it will be well to mention in this place, which is se- 
lecting such varieties as liave been found to succeed well in that 
particular locality. But after a man has selected his varieties, the 
true way is to go to the nursery, and get the trees and transplant 
them as soon as may be practicable. I have seen so much careless- 
ness and disappointment in procuring fruit trees, that I always 
caution every one against purchasing them of itinerating dealers. 
It will require but a short time to destroy the vitality of a fruit 



42 

tree or vino, if the roots are exposed to frost, sunsliine, or drying 
winds. 

83. Let all fruit trees and vines be selected and dug up, and 
transplanted with great care and despatch; and then, let the soil 
be kept well cultivated around them, and good fruit may be rais- 
ed in a few years. The soil needs to be well drained, either na- 
turally or artificially; and to be pulverized to a good depth ; and 
kept mellow on the surface. These things will be far more impor- 
tant than manuring highly. 

STOCK ON DAIRY FARMS. 

84. On a dairy farm, the leading considerati )n will be to ob- 
tain such cows as will yield not only the largest quantity of milk, 
but those that will produce the greatest amount of butter and 
cheese from the smallest quantity of feed. On this subject a 
farmer will need to avail himself of all the experience and good 
judgment of men of larger observation and extensive practice, 
coupled with his own good judgment and knowledge. There is 
as much difference in cows as there is in breeds, both as it res- 
pects the quantity of the milk which they will give as well as the 
quality. Where it is no object to raise calves, but simply butter or 
cheese — something may be done towards selecting such cows as 
will do much better on a poor soil than on soils that are very fer- 
tile and will produce large grass. There ai'e thousands of acres 
of land in almost every State where the soil is tliin and not 
very productive, even for raising grass, which are denominated 
" dairy farms." Now, on such soils there is no breed of cows 
that will equal the " Native breed** of New England and New 
York; and a good farmer would endeavor to secure such cows 
as will the most nearly answer the purpose for which the native 
breed were so well adapted, and it would be profitable to bestow 
some care in the selection. 

85. Durham cows should be avoided for such localities; and 
even Devons will not be found to be most profit ible in such 
places, although they will be more profitable than Durharas. 
Boar in mind that some little, raw-')oned, nar.ow-che.tcd, homely 



THE YOUNTt farmer's MANUAL. 43 

COW will often yield more cheese or butter than two other costly 
animals of beautiful form and symmetry. Then, if the soil is ra- 
ther poor and thin, a good Alderney cow, or one of the Ayrshire 
breed, or a cross between these breeds with a full bloodiid Devon 
bull, will doubtless secure a cow for dairy purposes of superior 
excellence. Such cows will succeed well on the best of soils; 1)ut 
their great excellence will appear, when confined to inferior soils, 
where thorough-bred Durhams, or cows of som3 larger breed, will 
not be found as profitable. But young farmers must not cherish 
the erroneous idea, that any kind of cows will yield a large flow 
of rich milk, for either butter or cheese, when they are required 
to subsist on daisies, sorrel, and other coarse herbage. Cows must 
have good feed in order to make good milk in large quantities. 

86. Those cows that show every rib when they are giving a 
full flow of milk, may be entered on the list with those that we 
know by actual trial to yield more butter, more cheese, and ge- 
nerally better calves, than those that will keep as fat as a young 
bullock. The truth on tins point is, if a milch cow secretes all 
the butter-forming miterial in forming fat and flesh, she cannot 
yield much rich milk. And if she yield a liberal flow of rich 
milk, she will almost always be very thin in flesh. Tliis is an excel- 
lent test of good milch cows, when they have been well kept. 

SELECTING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. 

*' A pitch-fork and dung-fork, a sieve, skep and bin, 
A broom and a pail, to put water th-rein ; 
A hand-birrov\-, wheel-barrow, sl.ovil and spade. 
A curry-comb, blanket, and whip for a jade.'* 

87. It is an old maxim, that ** almost any one can perform a 
piece of work if he has the tools ; and that it requires an expert 
mechanic to work without tools." But farmers must have tools 
and implements that are adapted to their business, or they cannot 
make any progress in cultivating the soil. It is very difficult to 
make one tool or implement subserve more than one good [tur- 
pose. For this reason, farmers find the expense of tools find im- 
nleraeiits one of the greatest drawbacks in all their farming 
operations. 



44 niE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

88. In former days, when manual labor was cheap, farmers 
were not required to invest so much capital in farm tools and im- 
plements. But scarcity of laborers, and high wages, have compell- 
ed them to purchase tools and implements with which their horses 
may perform their hard labor. Without enumerating what tools 
a farmer needs, we will make some practical suggestions concern- 
ing their mechanical construction and adaptation to the end for 
which they were designed. The great and leading idea should 
always be, to select those tools that are most simple in their con- 
Rtruction. Such machines are almost always the most durable, 
theclieapest managed with the least difficulty, and th3 most effec- 
tive. A tool or implement that is as complicated as a twenty- 
four hour clock with a second-hand on its dial, will too often 
require a machinist and a macliine-shop along with it to keep it 
in running order. Read the Rules for Selecting Plows and other 
Implements in Vol, I., giving full directions for the selection of 
good farm and shop tools, their use and manufacture. 

89. Another thing is, to procure s.ich only as a farmer ca i 
use with his own forces. When a man is under the necessity ( f 
rallying a numerous force of men and horses from a.nong his 
Dcighbors to perform a small job, ho will always find that it will 
absorb too large a proportion of his income to defray the expenses 
of such large forces. On small farms, in order to make farming pay, 
a farmer nmst calculate to do his own work as much as may be 
practicable. I always considered it poor policy to hire teams and 
laborers, at exorbitant prices, to perform labor that my own team 
and hands could do by being a little longer about it. 

RULES FOR SELECTING TOOLS. 

90. In selecting a subsoil plow, for example, I always selected 
one that I could draw with my own team, instead of choosing one so 
large as to require all my own teams and a portion of my neigh- 
bor's to draw it. Then every stick of timber and piece of iron in 
it would be scrutinized to see if they were all sound and right. 
The timber should be of the first-rate, second-growth, white oak 
or white ash, or some other tough and hard wood, and frei) from 



TUE YOUNG FARlilER^S MANUAL. 45 

knots and cross-grained places. I always looked with suspicion 
on " the gold and glitter" — the nice paint, the beautiful pencil- 
ing, bronzing and varnishing. All such things increase the ex- 
pense of a machine; and, with the crowd of farmers, they often 
eclipse the merits of an implement. Manufacturers understand 
this point very well. They know that a few pennies' worth of 
paint and varnish will often make a good sale for an inferior im- 
I'lemcut. 

91. Two m°n can perform almost any kind of labor on a farm, 
if the management is only right. Instead of employing a ten- 
horse power to do my thrashing with, I selected a two-horso 
power; and by having my maohinery properly disposed in the 
barn, one boy and myself, and two horses, always thrashed 
the grain, cut the straw, cornstalks and hay; sawed the wood 
with either the drag-saw, when sawing logs, or with the cireiilar- 
saw when sawing cord-wood. The horse power stood on tlie first 
floor, and the thrasher on the second floor. Stables were in the 
basement. Now when we hauled buckwheat or barley from the 
fleld, one man would pitch it to me as I fed it through the ma- 
chine; and the straw of ten or twenty bushels of grain would be 
carried away by horse power. Or, one man or boy would unbind 
the sheaves and bring them from the mow to the machine. 
With the same machine and help, my clover seed was thrashed 
and hulled; and with two horses and a boy I would shell my 
Indian corn, an'd clean it at the rate of seventy bushels per 
hour, by the clock. By having such tools and implements as two 
men and two horses could work with, all my thrashing appeared 
to cost but a trifle in comparison to what the expense would have 
been had it been done by a large machine, with a large gang of 
hands and horses. According to one system, the expenses will 
be large, but the job will soon be done ; while according to 
the other system, steady and profitable employment will be 
fjrnished for both horses and men, and a large bill of expense 
raved. Read Appropriation of Forces of the Farm, in Vol. I. 

92. In selecting hand tool^, my aim was co understand first 
v.hut I wanted — how a tool should be made — and then selc:t 



46 THE YOUNG FAPJI^r's MANUAL. 

the one that would approximate the nearest to what my ideas 
were of a perfect tool. Simplifity of construction, durability, ef- 
ficiency of operation, substantiality, and managability are all im- 
portant considerations in the selection of any farm tool or imple- 
ment. Wherever tools and implements are illustrated or describ- 
ed in the " Young Farmer's Manual," in either volume, theii 
excellencies will be noted. 

WHY TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS NEED PROTECTION. 

93. I have heard it remarked, scores of times, that "tliose 
implements are all iron; and it will not injure them to be exposed 
to the weather." But it does injure tools to be exposed to ihe 
influences of the weather, even when they are made entirely ot 
iron and steel; and it is not unfrequently the case, that the 
weather uses up more tools and implements than the work 
wliich they do. Let a shovel, spade, broad-hoe, or any othei 
similar tool, be exposed to a long storm of rain, and sunshine 
afterwards, and in many instances a scale of rust will be formed 
on the surface so thick that it will peel off. Now, it would re- 
quire much more use than we are wont to suppose to wear off as 
much of the surface as the thhi scale of rust would destroy. And 
besides this, a rusty, rough surface will often render a good tool 
inefficient in its operation; and much more force will be required 
to use it. This is particularly true of plows, cultivators, and 
the tools already mentioned. And, in addition to the injury that 
the iron and steel receives, the wooden portions swell and shrink 
by being exposed to wet and dry weather. When the surface of 
wood is wet with water, it raises the grain of the wood; and 
when it is dried, either by sunshine, fire or wind, the grain never 
settles back again as firmly and as smoothly as it was before it 
was wet. This renders the surface rough. And further more, 
every time the surface is wet, the rain dissolves and washes out a 
bmall portion nf the solul»lo part of the wood. This sngu'osts the 
importance of covering the surface with a coat of good }):ii!ib 
tnat will exclude the wet, and thus keep the surface from expiiui- 
iig and contracting. 



THE YOUXG farmer's 5IANUAL. 47 

94. The bearings aud the boxes of mowers, and reapers, and 
other kinds of machinery, have often been fitted np with so much 
care that one can see the color of his eyes in the neatly-polished 
surface. By having the surface of such parts of machinery very 
lig-ht and smooth, much less power will be required to work it. 
Kow, if a machine be exposed to rain and sunshine, these polish- 
ed surfaces will become rusty very soon; and this rust will not 
only make them run hard, but it will frequently make a bearing 
wear out very fast. And if it causes it to wear only a little, the 
wear will increase more and more the longer a machine is used. 
My own practice always was to have every tool and implement 
washed an*.', wiped clean and dry every day, as soon as it was not 
needed for immediate use, and put in a dry place. And the polished 
surfaces of such tools as plows, cultivators, shovels and broad- 
hoes were always oiled with any kind of oil that did not contain salt 
to prevent them rusting. S alt grease or salt oil will corrode a 
polished surface much sooner than rain water. 

KEEPING TOOLS IN ORDER. 

95. The v.ooden portions of wagons, sleighs, harrows, and all 
other kinds of farm implements, by a constant use will need re- 
pairing, and many times a break-down may be avoided by a little 
care and forethought. As repeated strains are brought to bear 
on the various parts of an implement, the joints will render a lit- 
tle; the heads of bolts will be crushed a little into the wood; 
nuts will start loose a trifle, and be constantly working more 
loose ; so that the first thing we know is, a nut is gone ; and a 
serious break-down follows. We often see good vehicles and im- 
plements working, jingling, rattling to pieces, from utter neglect 
to keep them in ordinary repair, which would occupy no time at 
all comparatively. I will illustrate my ideas. 

96. All my vehicles — when I was farming — were examined 
several times a year; and the nuts, rivets and bolts tightened up 
as soon as one appeared at all loose. Every time an implement 
was taken from the tool house, every nut, and bolt and key would 
be examined closely, to see if they did not want to be screwed 



48 THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 

up or keyed up. And every two or three years the sun crncA? 
would be puttied up, aud the surface covered with a good coat o) 
paiiii. Thousands of dollars' worth of tools and implements rust 
out annually, wliich would do good service for many years 
to come were they protected from the weathar and kept 
in proper order. The condition in which tools and implements 
are kept, furnishes a correct index to the true character of tlieir 
proprietor in point of business habits — promptness, efficiency, 
industry and faithfulness. And if a farmer desires to have good 
and effective tools and implements, he must not only protect tl:em 
from the influences of the weather, but keep tliom in good re* 
pair mechanically. 

INJUDICIOUS MANAGEMENT. 

91. In case a farmer does not care to labor only a small por- 
tion of the time, let him employ implements that will require a 
large gang of hands and horses to work them. But this system 
of management is nothing more nor less than having a man to 
perform a day's v/ork that one might do as well as not, instead 
of remaining idle. Thousands of farmers diell a few hundred 
bushels of their Indian corn in this expensive manner. They em- 
ploy a man with a ten-horse power, with two or three men to 
shovel in the ears; one to pitch the cobs away; two to shovel 
away the shelled corn; two men, two wagons, and four horses to 
haul the shelled corn to the barn ; one to drive the horses on the 
machine; and usually one or two to look on. The aggregate ex- 
pense I will not foot up here, as the reader can do it himself. 

98. So it is with many other operations on the farm. Tho 
management is decidedly faulty. If our good wives and daugh- 
ters should invite in a I'nrge circle of their neighbors to help 
them cook up bread, biscuit, pies and cakes enough to last the 
family from July to January, we should at once condemn 
such a practice as wasteful and unnecessary, not consistcjit 
with the duties of a judicious and careful manager of household 
afiairs, and calculated to bring reproach on all who should be 
guilty of such foolish acts. It is a farmer's business to man- 



THE YOUNG FAPvTJER S MANUAL. 40 

age well; to wed the hands to industrious labor and the h.?cnl 
to xseful knowledge. 

99. Mereliants, mecharJcs, and men who are ( ngaged in other 
business, if they are successful, are required to attend strictly to 
it every day, from the end of one year to the otiicr. And thoy 
are cjilled bad managers if they fail to do so. And it is equally 
true of the fiirmer who employs a gang of laborers to finish up 
a job of work in a few hours, and at a busy season of the year, 
when his own teams and own forces would be able to do it by 
and by, as well as to remain idle. It is decidedly bad manage- 
ment to keep teams and laborers at even a low price, and then 
hire tlie work done, that they could do as well as not. 

100. The practice which the large proportion of farmers 
adopt, of thrashing their grain at the latter part of harvest time, 
when the other labors of the farm are very pressing, and when 
wages are high, is very objectionable for several good reasons. 
A-ud there is not much ground for justifying the practice. The 
objections to this practice are, it is more expensive; because it is 
done when- wages are high and help scarce. Another thing is, a 
large amount of the straw will be wasted, which might otherwise 
be fed out to slieej), and thus worked into mutton and good manure, 
by which the fertility of the soil would be maintained. There- 
fore wo see that all of these bad systems of management will 
have a direct or indirect influence on the fertility of the soil. 

HORSES VS. OXEN FOR FARM TEAMS. 

" And horses or a yoke 
Of i?asy oxen, with long-swaying gait, 
Their large eyes dreaming o'er the rolling cud, 
Convey the winter stores into the barn." 

Read^s New Pastoral. 

101. Why is there so little labor performed by oxen, when 
compared with the amount that is done with horses ? Because 
young farmers, boys, and hired men dislike an ox team. And 
why this dislike ? Because they do not understand how to drive 
oxen. And if a man is unskilled in driving oxen, an ox 
team is a very disagreeable team to manage. On the con- 
trary, if a man knows how to manage ox.n, an ox team is 



50 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

a very ajrreeabic team to use, not only for plo\vin<>- atid liarrowinj^, 
but for every branch of farm labor. Most of our young men dis- 
like oxen because they cannot ride so conveniently as they can 
with horses. When they go to and from tlie ])asture, they must 
ride. When they go to the field to work, they must ride; and if aa 
implement will carry them, they must ride on it. If they ore to 
haul a load of any kind, they must ride, or they don't iro. T,. y 
must ride to their neighbor's, and they must ride to mill. Taey 
must ride to the post office, and they must ride to the Ijlack- 
smith's shop. They must ride to the well to get a drink, or havo 
a boy to fetch it to them, and they must ride to the dinner table, 
and ride to bed. And if they have horses the\ can do it. But 
if oxen is their team, as they are not skillful enough to drive 
them while riding, they are compelled to foot it. Therefore oxea 
for a team are disagree ble to manage; and, in their estimation, 
are not fit for a team at any rate; and they are unwilling to use 
them, because they can't ride every rod. 

TnEIR EXCELLENCIES COMPARED. 

102. "When travelling on the highway, with a light load, 
horses are preferable to oxen; because they can go and come 
quicker, and with less fatigue than oxen, and because they are 
better adapted to travelling on a trot than oxen are. This is the 
only consideration of any real importance in which horses are su- 
perior to oxen for a team. For plowing, harrowing, hauling ma- 
nure, hay, grain, or loads of any kind about the farm, and for 
hauling loads only a few miles, oxen that have been properly 
broke in, and kept as oxen should be kept, v/ill plow as much 
land, haul as many tons in a given period of time, as a sjmn of 
horse?. 

103. Let a yoke of oxen be cared for throughout the entire 
year as well as horses are, and they will usually perform more 
htird labor, and keep in better condition than a spau of horses. 
It is not the work — the hard labor — that injures oxen. Tliey are 
made for the very purpose of enduring hard labor. Cut it is 
this incessant, detestable bawling and whipping, and goading, and 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 51 

worrying, by awkward and unskilful drivers, that uses up the fat 
and flesh of well-fed oxen. When I was in my t^ens, a liired 
man would usually go with the horses, and I with the ox team; 
because I could drive the oxen day after day, at plowing or 
any thing else, and keep up with the horsos, with ease to the 
oxen ; but he was not able to do it. And whenever I kept an ox 
team on my farm — as I did most of the time — they always kept 
pace with the horses, at any and every kind of work, even in 
the beat of summer. The great S3cret of the excellence of oxen 
in the above cases was in using them gently, and in feeding them 
well. I always found an ox team the most agreeable of the two 
for doing almost any kind of farm labor. An ox costs only about 
half as much as a horse. Then, you can feed an ox on grain all the 
winter, with the assurance that it will not be lost. In case he 
gets a leg broken, his flesh, tallow, and hide will bring as much 
as if he had been fattened expressly for the shambles. There is 
seldom anything the matter with an ox when he is well cared for. 

104. But if you have a valuable horse, it will cost a vast deal 
of time to take care of him, and an enormous amount of grain 
and hay to keep him well. And the first thing you k;iow, he will 
lie down, and kick up, and die, without even permitting you to 
know that he was sick. Or he will have the glanders, the yellow 
water, the bots, the inflammation of the lungs, or the something' 
else, which will baffle all the skill of veterinarians; or a spavin 
will spring up, unbidden, on one leg; or a ring bone will adorn 
the other; or he has strained a joint somewhere or somehow — 
no mortal can tell how, nor when, nor where. But nothing of 
the kind occurs to oxen. Only feed them w^ell, treat them kindly, 
give them a comfortable place to lie down in, where they may 
enjoy quiet rumination and rest, and faithful old Buck and Bony 
aix always on hand when the roll is called. 

105. Deliver your lines to a careless man or boy, and the first 
news will be: "The horses have run away, and made kindhng 
wood of the wagon, torn the harness to tatters," and, perhaps, 
ruined themselves. But let Buck and Bony be placed in the same 
circumstances, and you will find them standing quietly in their 



52 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

places, wniting for further orders. Attempt to drive through the 
dee]) snow with your liorscs, and, if they cannot walk or trot 
smoothly along, down they drop, and there they will lie. And, 
ten chances to one, if they do not wou.id their feet and legs almost 
incurably when floundering in the snow, and acting more like a 
beast of no intelligence than like a sagacious horse. Get them 
in the mud above their fetlocks, and down they go again; and it 
may be you can unhitch the traces, and unbuckle the harness, so 
as toena))le them to rice; but if you cannot you can cut it to 
pieces. And then faithful Buck and Bony must pull them out, 
and haul out their load also. " 0, nonsense, perplexity nml 
vexation personified I" you exclaim. " Put up the horses into llio 
warm stable, and close the ventilators, and rub them dry, and 
buckle on their blankets, and give them a half bushel of oatg 
each, and don't take them out again until tlie weather is decent. 
And let the oxen break the roads, and try tho miry way." 

lOG. Now, ''Buck and Bony, can you go through that littb 
drifty heap?" "Bah, bah I" and away they go like a steam 
plow, or wallow like a dog. Sometimes thoy rest upon their 
feet, and sometimes upon their bellies. But still they go on cooly, 
quietly, steadily; and, if a little fatigued, tlioy don't drop down 
on their butts and keel over, one on the top of the other, as hor.-;es 
do. No, by no m':ans. They go on every time the word " go" is 
given. And when they have returned to the stable all jaded 
out, only give them a good feeding and a good bed, and they will 
grow fat on it. And the heaves, bots, yellow water, founder, or 
distem})er touches them not. 

107. Again, hitcli the horses to a huge rock or log, and, if 
it don't start right along, look out for floundering, rearini>- and 
pitching, balking and jerking, and broken harness or whilfletrees, 
without so much as moving the load a single foot. But only hitch 
on the oxen, and, at the word, they pull with all their might, just 
like a man, not once only, and then back up, and flounder, and 
balk, and refuse to move after they have been unhitched, but 
they will pull seventeen times; and, if the load is drawable, they 
'will fetch it at last. 



THE YOUNG FARilKR's MANUAL. 53 



OXEN SLOW IN THEIR MOVEMENTS. 

108. When steers have been correctly broken in, they will 
keep close up with horses as long as they travel on a fast walk. 
But the course that is usually purs«:ied with young oxen is the 
most successful way to make them intolerably slow. They are 
hitclied to a huge, lumbering cart, heavy enough for a single tonni 
to draw without carrjing any load, and, whanged around with it, 
day after day, often being compelled to carry a good portion of 
their load on their necks, and hold it for hours without any relief. 
Such usage, with unmerciful kicking and pounding by human 
stupidities, who have less intelligence than the oxen they drive, 
destroys all their elasticity and spirits, and soon makes them like 
an old, broken-down dray horse that moves like a bug in a tar 
barrel. 

109. S. A. Law says: * A common objection urged against 
o^xen is, that they are constitutionally slow of motifm, and not to 
be depended upon in the hurrying operations of the farm. The 
fault is not a constitutional one, but the effect of injudicious 
training. The common method of breaJdng steers tend.-: to make 
their movements slow. They are usually put into the yoke when 
two or three years old, and fastened to a yoke of old cattle, 
rendered slothful by labor, where they are worked until ' broken,^ 
and forced to accommodate their movements to the tardy motion 
of the team that controls them. After having been tamed and 
rendered obedient in this way, they are usually put to labor quite 
too severe for their age and strength, and soon become * broken' 
in s[;irit. It is not strange that under such treatment oxen are 
sluggish in their movements." 

110. The Devon breed of cattle has ever been esteemed for 
its working qualities, being excelled hi speed, at the plow, or 
even upon the road, by but few horses; and, in their native 
country, it is said they are not unfrequently trotted, with an 
empiy wagon, at the rate of six miles per hour. From this valu- 
able stock many of the working oxen of New England are be- 
lieved to have sprung — their color, form, and action betraying 



54 TTTE Youxn farmer's manual. 

t.ioir ori,G:in. Well directed experiments liave demonstrated th;it, 
with proper treatment and training, the difference in speed be- 
tween horses and oxen, in farm labor, is very little. Sir John 
Sinclair says, that the ox teams upon the farms in Wooden and 
Mellendean, when along with the horse ploios, never lose a turn. 
The issue of plowing matches throughout the country ha^, it is 
bL'lieved, established the, fact, that oxon can plow a given space 
of ground as quick and as loell as horses. In the early history of 
tliis country, when the roads to the Hudson River were new, 
passing through forests, and surmounting many of the steepsst 
hills, my father employed heavy ox teams upon the roads in his 
farming and lumbering operations. His ox teams, heavily loaded, 
going and returning, made their trip to Catskill, a distance of 66 
miles, in six days. Horse teams consume, on an average, the same 
length of time now — travelling over roads, for the most part 
carefully graded and well worked — roads ten miles a day easier 
for a team than those in use from 1800 to 1812. The heavy 
six-horse teams travelling upon the National Road make but fif- 
teen miles a day. Ex-Governor Hill, of New Hampshire, says: 
*' I have, at this time, cattle of my own raising which have been 
taught to step quick; and, having worked in the same team with 
horses, will travel as fast and plough as much in a day as the 
same number of horses. A pair of these oxen will plow from one 
and a half to two acres in a day, working eight hours. Oxen well 
fed with hay, and a portion of Indian corn or meal, will, in the 
heat of summer, stand it to work daily from eight to ten hours.'* 
111. It occurs to me, at the present writing, that the last 
yoke of oxen that I owned was broken by myself, and no one 
was allowed to drive them but myself; and they would go to the 
saw mill with a lieavier log than the horses hauled, and return 
promptly with them. And, for many successive days, when they 
were excellent beef, and were eating ov^er one bushel of corn meal 
per day, they plowed with narrow furrow slices more than one 
acre of ground daily, and cut a deeper furrow than the horses, 
and never lost a round. And when I drove them five miles to 
iiiaiket they outwalked the Uorsjs — wliich were good wa'kers — 



TA2 YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. Gj 

more than half a mile. But their spirits had never been broken 
by a huge ox cart. Another objection urged against oxen is: 

OXEN CANNOT STAND THE HEAT. 

112. So far as my experience and observation have been 
brought to bear on this subject, this objection is not well grounded. 
There is no fairness in condemning a thing before it has been al- 
lowed to have a fair trial, under favorable as well as unfavor- 
able circumstances. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 
says: " It is a common practice with farmers, during the hurry- 
ing season of farm labor, to grain their horse teams, and take such 
other care of them as tends best to strengthen their powers of 
endurance; while it is a like common practice to feed no grain to 
their oxen — tasking their utmost energies in field labor during the 
day; and then leaving them to seek in the pasture, between sun- 
set and sunrise, a restoration of their exhausted powers. Such 
oxen are often found lolling in the forenoon ; and are pointed to as 
an illustration of the fact, that oxen cannot endure heat! Smjrt- 
hu: ;inder the lash, irritated by the bawling of an inexperienced 
and cruel driver, with a hot sun over him, and a stomach filled 
with green fermenting food, the ox faints at his labor, and very 
wisL lookers-on shake their head and say, " he can't stand the 
heat." Sage conclusion, very! In India and China, in the West 
Indies, in South America, in Spain, everywhere under the tropics, 
oxen are used for draught, or as beasts of burden, and their 
powers of endurance are as great or greater than those of horses. 

rHE EXPENSE OF OXEN VS. HORSES. 

113. Notwithstanding I hinted at the expense of the ox and 
horse teams in a former parugraph, (108,) I have thought it im- 
portant to sum up the expenses of each team, so that the reader 
may see at a glance how they compare in cash value. Allowing 
the original 'urchase of a span of horses to be three imndred 
dollars, theii 'arness, whiffletrees and neckyoke forty dollar?, 
we have $34b 00; while a yoke of good oxen — not the most 
valuable — will cost one hundred and fifty dollars; and their 



5() THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

yoke and cliain about eight more, making $158 00. I hr.ve net 
computed the prices of the best horses, nor the best oxen, but 
only those of an ordinary quality, for the purposes of a team. 
Then the expense of keeping an ox team and a horse team will 
be very different, with different farmers. I have seen it stated, 
])y writers on this subject, that the expense of keeping oxen and 
horses will be about as two to three; or, in other words, " it will 
cost one third more to keep a horse team than an ox team, when 
each performs the same amount of labor." 

114. But this estimate does not coincide with my experience. 
I am wiUing to concede, that if an ox team and horse team were 
restricted to a limited allowance, a yoke of oxen would wear 
out a span of horses in a short time, allowing the amount of feed 
and labor of each team to be equal. When they are fed with 
unground grain, as horses masticate the grain better than oxen 
do, it would require more to feed the oxen. But if it be ground 
into fine meal, the difference will be much in favor of the oxen; 
because, they will then extract more nourishment from the feed 
than horses. And, so far as hay and grass are taken into esti- 
mate, my experience is that an ox will consume quite as much 
hay and grass as a horse. And if the oxen are large, and horses 
not very large, the oxen will eat the most. I always found that 
my working oxen, weighing eighteen hundred pounds each, when 
they were plowing side by side with my horses, weighing only 
eight or nine hundred pounds each, would consume nearly twice 
as many pounds of hay, meal and roots — and lick their mangers 
for more — as the horses. 

TRAFFICKING IN WORKING OXEN. 

115. I am personally acquainted with a good farmer who 
gave me the following facts, but protested against using his 
name. In the winter of 1864 he purchased a yoke of oxen for 
two hundred dollars. As he was a good feeder, he kept them 
til riving constantly. They did all his plowing, and hauling his 
manure, on a farm of seventy acres. In June he sold them for 
two hundred and sixty dollars; and the same day purchased 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 57 

another yoke for one hundred and ninety dollars. After keep- 
ing tlicm a few months, he sold them also for beef, and pur- 
chased another yoke soon. By this system of trafficking, he 
cleared over three hundred dollars in one year on his working 
oxen. A practical farmer says in the Country Gentkmin: 
* When a small farmer buys a yoke of oxen for what one good 
horse will cost, he most likely gets a yoke in the bargain; so that 
with the expense of a few shillings for a chain, he is raady to 
hitch on to anything and go to work. Then the principal part of 
his work being in the spring, he can, by giving them good feed 
through the summer, and pumpkins and roots, or a little grain iu 
the fall, and perhaps the fore part of the winter, make them sell 
for beef for from $25 to $50 more than he paid for them. This 
course may be followed on all farms where a yoke of oxen can do 
the work; and in numerous instances the turning point between 
success and failure may be found in the choice of a team to begin 
with. If the money that it costs to buy and rig out a span of 
horses for business, and generally for riding around in more or 
less style, over and above the cost of oxen, had been paid on 
the farm instead of having been paid for perishable property, 
it would have made a great difference in the final results. 
I have succeeded en a small poor farm, where almost every one 
prop!ie!>ied my failure; and where I am satisfied, that, had I tried to 
buy and keep a good horse team, from the commencement, success 
at the best would have been much more difficult, if not impossible. 
By following this course, and selecting oxen that are good feeders, 
it need cost but little, if any, more to make a yoke of oxen fay.* 
beef, than itwould to keep a span of horses in good condition; thus 
giving a profit of from $25 to S50, and sometimes even doubling 
).he money on the oxen, while the horses are wearing out. 

THE ULTIMATE VALUE OF OXEN AND HORSES. 

116. The above view of the subject commends itself strongly 
to every farmer who keeps more than one team. When oxen 
are kept as an ox team should be, they will perform a vast 



58 TFIR YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

amount of hard labor annually; and be constantly increasing in 
cash value until they are from six to ten years of age, according 
to their aptitude to fatten ; their value then does not wear otit 
with their ability to perform labor; but when their service ends, 
they can be prepared for the butcher, and will bring as large an 
addition to the purse as they would in the palmiest days of 
their strength and activity. Here is where the value of an ox 
counts up largely. But how much is a ringboned, brokeri- 
winded, chest-foundered, blind, poll-eviled and spavined horse 
worth ? Let experienced farmers answer this question. 

lit. A practical farmer of New England, where oxen were 
foi-mcrly used much more than horses, penned the following 
tlKHuhts for the Albany Cultivator: " Ox teams, from the age 
of four to eight years, when constantly laboring, are just as con- 
stantly increasing in value. Experience having shown that well- 
fed oxen, when steadily worked^ increase in weight as fast as thoso 
lying unemployed; and when too old for service, with good pasture 
for a short time, are worth their original cost in the shambles. 
Oxen are also considered less liable than horses to diseases of a 
fatal clir.racter, or those producing permanent infirmity. I need 
not speak of tlie value of an old, worn-out horse; nor of the total 
loss which is incurred by the owner when his horse fractures a 
limb or dies from disease. While oxen, when too old for the 
labors of the field, have still a value sufficient to rcjdace them 
by a young and vigorous team, horses worn out or diseased are 
worse than nothing .'" 

* ABOUT TEAMS FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 

118. A farmer cannot reasonably expect to have a heavy, 
strong draught horse and a fast carriage horse combined in one 
animal. If it is desirable to keep a horse that will travel very 
fast before a carriage, he must not allow him to haul many heavy 
loads, nor to do much hard plowing, as such work will thicken 
the muscles and stilieii the joints, and deprive him of (he natural 
elasticity of his limbs, and make him slow i'.i lu3 u-jveiu-nts. 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 59 

Where a man keeps only one or two horses, it is very desirable to 
keep such only as are well adapted to all kinds of work. And 
even in animals of this description there is always a great choice. 
The aim should be to secure horses of a good, medium size, with 
heavy carcasses, short-legged, deep and broad shoulders, heavy 
behind, short on the back, and of strong form and symmetry in 
every respect. Such horses will travel well on the highway, both 
with a load or with an empty carriage; and fur any kind of 
heavy draught on the farm, or for wielding agricultural imple- 
ments, they will usually move with a steady and desirable gait. 

HEAVY TEAMS BETTER THAN LIGI[T ONES. 

119. Most of the operations of the farm, with teams, require 
a stea ly and rather slow uiovement. When a heavy load is to 
be pnt in motion, it will require the expenditure of less force, and 
lighter chains, and harness and whiffletrees, to draw it when an 
animal is heavy and draws steady, than will be required when 
an animal is light and quick in its movements. A light horse 
may be as strong as one that is nearly twice as heavy; but he 
could not haul a load with the same ease as a heavy horse, and 
would need a stronger harness and stronger whiffljtrees than a 
heavy horse. And why ? For the following philosophical 
reasons: When a light horse draws a load he is obliged to start 
50 rapidly and move so fast in order to secure a momentum equal 
to that of a heavy horse when moving slowly, that he soon be- 
2omes fatigued and exhausted by performing, by muscular force, 
!in operation that ought to be performed, in a measure, by the 
momentum of an animal. On the contrary, a heavy horse will 
haul the same draught; and instead of doing it with the force o? 
his muscles, as a light horse does, the momentum of his body will 
move a portion of the load, and aid in keeping it moving. 

120. A horse that weighs eight hundred pounds may effect, 
by means of his momentum, as much as if he weighed sixteen 
hundi-ed pounds. But, la order to do it, he must necessarily move 
just twice as fast. This increase of gait, therefore, will require a 
i^reater expenditure of muscles, and there \A\\ be much more 



GO TnE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

danger of breaking some part of the gearing. When a team is 
lieavy, and move at a moderate gait, their momentum will do 
mncli towards keei)ing the load or draught i.i motion, whereas a 
light team will be required to do it with their muscles, which ic 
the most fatiguing manner of performing any kind of labor. 

WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS TO AVOID FOR TEAMS. 

121. There are two kinds of animals, both of the horse and ox 
kind, that it will be good policy always to avoid, because they 
are unprofitable to keep, as well as disagreeable to mamigo. 
One of these kinds may be described as large-framed, overgrown, 
long-backed, pot-bellied, Shanghai-shanked, ill-formed, that con- 
sume vast quantities of food, and never become fat. Sue', 
animals may make good teams, so far as labor alone is concerned; 
but, as a general rule, their dispositions are not as agreeable a;- 
those described in a former paragraph. This holds good with 
both oxen and horses. 

122. Another kind to be avoided is small, ill-shapen-, nirrow- 
chcsted, light and narrow behind, cow-necked, slender-limbed, 
dancing and prancing, and unsteady-gaited animals. Such animals 
are almost always hard keepers, as well as difficult to m.xnage. 
It seems almost impossible to teach them to draw heavy lo;;ds 
steadily, and it requires constant care to control them success- 
fully. If they have been idle for a few days, and if they feel 
a little refractory when they are hitched to a heavy dranght, 
away will go your traces or whiffletrees, or something else, 
because they attempt to perform a portion of their labor V)y 
the momentum of their bodies, instead of doing it by muscular 
force. Read the precedhig subject on this point. When a team 
draws steadily, a chain or traces, or small whiffletrees, will hold to 
haul a heavy load, that would not be strong enough to move 
it an inch in case a team should start with a jerking motion. 

MARES vs. GELDINGS FOR TEAMS. 

123. With some men there exists a deeply-seated prejudice 
against mares as a team for any purpose; and if they keep a mare 



THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 61 

on tlic farm, she is kept for no other purpose than for breeding. 
But when a farmer has only a few acres of plow land, and prefers 
to keep a horse team iuste;id of oxen, he can adopt a system of 
manngement with a team of good mares tliat will be more profit- 
able, perhaps, than any other kind of team. The details of this 
system are practised by many successful farmers in the following 
manner; and when I commenced farming operations I practised it 
also: Obtain two good breeding mares, and endeavor to have 
them drop their foals before they will be needed to do the field 
labor in the spring; or, they may drop their foals a week or two 
after the spring labor has been done, and thus avoid the necessity 
of putting them immediately to woik. 

124. With proper management a man ma^ raise two good 
colt? every year, without any detriment whatever to his team or 
mares. Bat this afiirmation is predicated on the suppo3ition, that 
they will be used by careful hands. But, if they are to be 
slammed and jammed around by every Tom, and Pat, and Jim, 
that will use a mare as roughly as they would a wheelbarrow, 
such a team would be a very unprofitable one. In case a farmer 
desires to keep two teams of horses, it is a good practice, which 
many good farmers have adopted, to keep one team of breeding 
mares and another team of geldings, that will always be ready 
to perform the heavy work, and the mares with colts perform the 
liglit work. Two good colts annually will defray a good p.irt of 
the expense of keeping a team through the year. 

MULES vs. HORSES AND OXEN. 

125. Some farmers have contended that mules will make the 
best and most economical team. But, after making inquiry with 
Gpecial reference to this subject, for more than twenty years, and, 
after reading with care and impartiality all that I have met with 
VAX this sul)ject, I have come deliberately to the conclusion, that 
I would not have a mule team on my farm, because a yoke of 
L^ood oxen will be infiiRtely more agreeable, as well as profitable, 
than mules. 

126. The chief arguments for and against mules may be thua 



C2 niE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

summed up. Tlioy are longer-lived, tougher, will subsist o.i 
coarser fare, and endure greater hardship than either oxen or 
horses. On the contrary, it is said of them almost universally, 
tliatthere are really but two suitable places for mules — tiie stable 
'and the harness. They are no. as tractable as either oxen oi 
horses, and they are much more hable to be vicious — to kick, 
balk, and to be unruly in the field. If a farmer has an ignobla 
•nd outlandish set of drivers — such as were accustomed to drive 
raules in the Slaves States before the civil war commenced — w!o 
must, of necessity, kick and pound a team about so much every 
day, it would be advisable for him to obtain a pair of mules. My 
old primer used to say: 

" A Dutchman rides a stupid mule, 
A stubborn beast that few can rule.** 

WE MUST HAVE HORSES. 

127. Whatever may be the expense of raising or of procur- 
ing them, most people must and will have horses. If they cost 
three times as much as beautiful oxen, horses must take the pre- 
cedence. It appears to be utterly incompitible with the pre- 
dominating characteristics of the people of this age to desire to 
fide — to ride fast — and, therefore, they want and will have those 
animals to draw them whose speed will be the neai'est equ:il to 
the railroad cars. Men of extensive business, whose time is worth 
fifty cents, or one dollar per hour, need a fast horse to carry 
them from place to place; and it is right and proper that they 
should have hor-es that can travel fast. 

128. But, says one: " We must have horses to cultivate hoed 
crops, and to rake hay with, and to perform many other kinds 
of labor, and to draw our carriages and famJies to meeting and 
to social gatherings.*' But oxen would do all this, if it were oidy 
i\\Q fashion to ride after them. If it were only the fashion for a 
man to have his pleasure carriage drawn by a Durham bull, or by 
a fat steer, instead of a horse, then it would be as droll and odd 
to ride after a horse as it now seems to savor of oddity for a 
female to be seen destitute of hoop skirts or long-ti-ailiug dresses. 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 63 

Americans must and will have horses, whatever the expense may 
be. 

MAKE YOUR HORSES PERFORM YOUR HARD LABOR. 

'* Honor to labor, it givetli health; 
Honor to labor, it giveih wealth; 
Honor to labor of bD'Jy or mind, 
Which hath for its object th^ good of mankind,-' 

129. No intelligent farmer has an}' business to perform heavy 
labor with his hands that cm ba done conveniently with a liorse,. 
or with oxen. Horses are made to labor — to do the bidding — 
the drudgery — the toil — -in fine, to do the service of mankind. 
They are good for nothing else only to help us work; and if we do 
not lay out the work for them, they are nothing but a bill of ex- 
pense. The Creator knew well that we need some strong and 
obedient animals to carry our burdens, and carry us; therefore 
He gave us the horse, in whom are combined more desirable quali- 
ties for a team than can be found in any other animal. L^t us 
endeavor to honor our calling by bringing our horses more ef- 
fectually into our daily labors. 

130. Oiie horse is calculated — in agricultural dynamics — to be 
equal to about five men. But, at many kinds of labor, a 
span of horses will perform with ease more than twelve strong- 
men, even when the men labor very hard. Where, then, is the 
propriety of keeping a span of fat hoi'ses, capable of performino- 
more than ten msn in a day, and letting them stand idle, and see 
a little, feeble man toil ten or twelve long hours to perform wliat 
they could do with ease in less than one hour? It is almost a 
wonder tliat some of our teams do not speak out, like B Uaam's 
ass (Num. xxii. 28), and rebuke us for our unaccountable stupidity; 
and ask the privilege of working a little every day at soraetliin"-, 
which would afford them healthy exercise, and bring great relief 
to their owners. We all have minds to care for, as well as bodies; 
and the man who neglects the proper cultivation and improvenunt 
of his mind, and distinguishes himself in the world only by making 
a horse of his body, wrongs himself, his friends, his country, and 
hi:-. God. A man is the very higliest order of intelligent beings, 



fi4 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

and he should maintain his superiority by laying out labor for his 
horses, that are given to him for servants. Horses can turn the 
grindstone, do the churning, pitch our hay, hoe our corn, dig our 
potatoes, and do ahnost anytliing else, anl do it with ease, and 
keep fat too, if we will only think for tliem, and give them the 
word to go ahead and to stop. Oar business is to think, and it 
is theirs to do the work. 

131. Wiien I see a little mm lifting and lugging, and sweat- 
ing and tugging, hour after hour, to get a few tons of hay on to 
a high mow, while he has two fat horses standing idle, which could 
elevate it in a few minutes, I always think what a dunce you are 
to make such a beast of burden — such a long-eared jade of your- 
self — when the Creator has given you such strong animals to per- 
form your hard labor I You are frustrating the design of the 
Almighty by making yourself a horse, when he intended that you 
should reflect the im ige of the Creator, and exercise dominion over 
the beasts of the field, atid require them to perform your menial 
service I 

REARING IMPROVED STOCK 

132. Lies at the foundation of all progressive agriculture. It 
does not cost as much to fat a pig of somo improved breed as it 
will to fatten one of the alligator or landpike breed, whose 
snouts are long enough to reach througli the fence to tlie second 
row of corn. And this branch of agriculture ought to constitute 
one of the principal sources of profit to the farm jr. If a farmer 
occupies a dairy farm, and his chief object is milk, for either 
cheese or butter, he will find it a source of great profit to obtain 
the best cows for milk. And, in connection with this branch of 
business, it will be good economy to fatten a few swine annually 
which should be of the very choicest breed. Fattening pork and 
dairying are Lntiniately connected, as swine are needed to con- 
sume ihe butter milk and wliey. 

133. Again: if a farmsr prefers tj raise slieep of any kind, 
either for wool or for nmttoii, or bath, econoaiy would dictate 
that he should obtain such animals only as will be the best 
adapted to the object in view. The best is, in all cases, the 



THE YOUNG FAPvMEh's MANUAL. 65 

most profitable for either of the purposes; and if he desires 
to raise good horses for market, or neat cattle for the shambles, 
the first stop should be to dispose of every breed of an infe- 
rior character, and then obtain such only as possess excellent 
characteristics for the purposes intended. If farmers take pains 
to breed from the best animals, and to rear thorn in the best 
manner, they will always be sure of the best price for them, pro- 
viding they fix that price on them at the time of sale. 

I have space here only to caution farmers against a very com- 
mon error all over our country at the present time, of employing 
grade male animals in raising stock of any kind. By using the 
services of full-blooded males — aither stallions, bulls or bucks^ 
the progeny is, almost Mhvays, very good. But by selecting males 
from their progeny for propagating their kind, the improvement 
will be of a retrogressive character. 

134. A few years ago, many farmers employed the services 
of a full-blooded Durham bull with their common cows; and the 
improvement always exceeded the anticipations. Had they con- 
tinued as they commenced, they would have succeeded well. Bat 
after taking one good step in a good direction, they stopped, 
and commenced breeding from an inferior animal. This has been 
the case with sheep as well as with neat cattle. Let it be re- 
membered, that in order to be successful in rearing improved 
stock of any kind, it will be important to breed from a thorough- 
bred male, that will transmit his excellencies to his progeny with 
great certainty, and not to breed from a grade male animal of 
any kind. 

WHAT A SMALL FARMER MAY DO. 

135. In order to show that something tangible may be done 
at rearing improved stock, I transcribe a paragraph from an ad- 
dress, by lion. Geo. Vail, by which it will be seen how soon a 
farmer may raise up a herd of the very choicest animals : " ¥oi' this 
purpose I cordially invite farmers to call at my tUrni and ex uniao 
a cow of the Durham breed, which I purchased in the maiitli 
of May, 1858, for $125. The animal I allude to was then a two 
year-old-heiiVr. with a heifer calf at her side, dropped a few days 



66 THE YOUNG FAP.MEr's MANUAL. 

previous. From tliis heifer and her then calf I Imvo raised six 
calves- four heifers and two bulls — making- this stock now eight in 
number. Three of them are now witli calf, with a promise of in- 
creasing the number to eleven animals the coming spring. T 
make this statement simply to encourage sucli farmers as decline 
raising improved stock, on the ground that it costs too much 
money to make the first p-.irchase, to prove to them that with 
an outlay of $125 they may in four or five years rear a pretty 
large herd, as to numbors, provided they d) not dispose of any 
of the increase. While rearing an in^i^roved herd, they can dis- 
pose of the old animals to make room for the the new herd." 

CULTIVATING LARGE VS. SMALL FARMS. 

" 'Tis folly in th' extreme to till 
Exttusive fields ami till them "11; 
For more one well-tilled acre yields 
Than the wide breadUh of half-tilled fields." 

136. I believe that farms are very apt to be too small for 
profitable cultivation. I know that large farms are seldom cul 
tivated as well as small ones are; and they are seldom propor- 
tionally as productive as small ones. But where is the cause of 
it ? Who, or what, is in the fault ? It is not, certainly, in the 
soil, but in the cultivation of it. Suppose we divide a large 
farm into several small ones, and let different proprietors own 
and cultivate it. As a general rule, the productiveness of the 
soil will be very much increased in a few seasons. And why ? 
Simply because it is cultivated more thoroughly than it was 
when it all belonged to one fariiL 

137. The expense of cultivating small farms is often much 
greater proportionally than the expense of cultivating large farms. 
And were it not for this single consideration, we should coincide 
with those who advocate cultivating small farms in prefeience to 
large ones. Let us particularize on this point. A farm3r must 
have a good team, and a full set of tools and implements, whether 
he has one acre or one hundred to cultivate. If his farm is small 
there will be many implements, very essential, which will not be 
used more than one or two days iu a year, the use of which will 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 6t 

not be an equivalent for the interest on their cost. This will be 
found true of a grain drill, mower or reaper, and some other im 
plements. Then, if the team consists of horses, they must be 
kept well, whether there is any work for them to do or not. But 
if a team consists of oxen, they will be improving in value 
whether they work or not. But with a horse team there will be 
a much greater expense, proportionally, on a small farm, than on 
a large one, on account of the expense of keeping a team iu 
idleness. 

138. If a man desire to keep stock, his operations will always 
be contracted and cramped, if he have a small farm. A man 
will take care of one hundred sheep in about the same time that 
will be requu-ed to take care of only ten. And unless he prac 
tices the " soiling" system— keeping them in a stable or yard — 
the expense of a small farm will usually be much increased by 
fencing the farm into smaller fields than are necessary on large 
farms. The only plausible objection to large farms is, farmers- 
are quite too apt to attempt to perform more than can be done 
in good time with the limitpd amount of help which they employ. 
If the soil of large farms were to receive the same attention, the 
same amount of manure per acre, and the same amount of good 
cultivation, it would be most profitable to cultivate large farms. 

CONFIDENCE IN THE SOIL, 

139. And confidence in one's ability to cultivate it in such a 
manner as to make it pay well, and at the same time keep it good 
is what American farmers need more than anything else. When 
farmers are about to commence a system of improvement by 
underdraining, there are but few, comparatively, who really feel 
confident that the expense will all be returned, with double in- 
terest, in a short time. So it is when they apply fertilizers. They 
are distrustful, and filled with serious apprehensions that *'it will 
not pay" after all. This want of confidence in the soil too often 
induces them to slight a good job, because they have not that 
confidence in the productiveness of the soil which is essential to 
success. ^See this subject inoj-e fully elutddated in the Chanter on 



68 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

the Management of Soils.) A practical farmer of New England 
writes: " What is required to accomplish ihe needed reform in 
the modes of management upon New England farms is, mure faith 
in the land. The cultivator must come to a realizing sense that 
profit, which is the sum and substance of success, comes not so 
much from the careless cultivation of a large number of acres as 
from the thorough cultivation of a few. And in that word " tho- 
rough" is included everything which relates to managing, pulver- 
izing, and clearing the land. Tliere are what are called " small 
farmers," cultivating from eight to ten acres of land, whose annual 
return in cash would excite the envy of many who cultivate our 
largest farms; and yet they accomplish such results under greater 
disadvantage than the krge farmer, who achieves little in com- 
parison. They do not hesitate sometimes to bestow upon the 
land, in a single year, manure to the full value of the land itself; 
and they seldom fail of their reward, in the shape of immense 
crops; while the old-fashioned cultivators are toiling over a vast 
surface to gather the scanty products of the old system." 

SMALL FARMS AlID BETTER CITIZENS. 

140. Although it may be less expensive, comparatively, to 
cultivate large farms, still there is another consideration of more 
noble importance than simply dollars and cents, which eveiy good 
citizen must admit to be a worthy object, which is, the improve- 
ment of the farmer himself as well as his soil. Could our country 
be divided up into small farms — say about fifty acres each, and be 
occupied and cultivated by men with their rising families, we 
should not only see a marked improvement in the productiveness 
of the soil, but in the farmers themselves, when taken as a class. 
If a man will be satisfied with a good competence — with a good 
living — with having in his possession an abundance to make him 
comfortable, and a little to throw into the box of charity, the 
true way is to cultivate a small farm. 

141. I commenced on a iarm of twenty-five acres, and per- 
formed, with my own hands, all the labor that one man conltl do 
conveniently during sunnner and winter; and can now revert to 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 69 

that portion of my agricultural career as the most pleasant and 
profital)le part of my whole life up to the present writing, Dec. 
1864. It is true that sometimes I was required to labor very 
hard. But after the few days of hard labor I would feel as 
cheerful and happy as ever. If I had a field to plow, or sow, I 
always knew exactly how well or how poorly it was done. If m)' 
animals were fed, I knew whether they had enough or only half 
enough to eat. And so it was with every other operation of the 
farm. There was j9/e^52<.re in all the labors of the farm. But as 
soon as I enlarged my farm, and it became necessary to employ 
men and boys to aid me, almost everything would go like a black 
bear over a brush fence — tail first. 

A WORKING farmer's PARADISE. 

142. If it is a farmer's ruling passion to get money only, 
money first, money intermediately, and money last; and, if the 
possession of a great deal more money than he can ever spend 
advantageously or economically, will afford him more pleasure 
than a well-cultivated little farm and a comfortable home, with 
beautiful surroundings, then let him obtain a large farm. But, 
let him remember, that he must have perplexity or vexation with 
it. 

143. The following thoughts were prepared for the columns 
of the Country Gentleman^ which are no less important now than 
they were then: We hold that fifty acres of good land, or that 
which can be made good, is enough, unless a man wishes to slave 
out his whole life in toil — digging till his old back is as crooked 
as a rainbow— till his muscles crack with the rheumatism, and 
his joints snap with anchylosis. Some penetrating genius has 
discovered that man has but one life to live on earth. Then, 
why toil incessantly for the bread that perisheth ? In the sweat 
of our brow are we to get our bread; but don't let us sweat im- 
moderately for mammon. Enough is all we can use. We kno\y 
of a snug little farm of 34 acres of cultivated land, and 17 of 
rocky pasture, which yields a profit mucli larger than any 150 
acres within our knowledge. It upholds a snug little cottage of 



70 THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 

eight rooiTiR, a large barn with modern useful improvements, 3 
acres of splendid orchard of all valuable fruits, half an acre of 
excellent garden, an acre and a half more devoted to carrots, 
turnips, and onions. The fences are all post and rail, bushes and 
weeds are in eternal exile, and the whole place is exceedingly fair 
to look upon, and to live on. This man is getting rich by being 
thorough in everything. His hen-house is perfect, his hens lay, 
and no droppings are lost. His pig sty is well supplied with muck, 
and the house slops run into it. After taking the first premium, 
he puts about six acres of corn into pork, which makes manure 
— his carrots and turnips he puts into beef, which make more 
manure. Manure and thorough tillage are the grand secrets oi 
all farming — in New England at least. This man lives well — 
no pork diet for him — he eats turkeys, eggs, lamb, and the first 
of his fruits and herds. He dresses well,, rides in a carriage, has 
a good pew in church, and sends his children to the first institu- 
tions of learning. His wife isn't worked to death, and has a 
piano in the parlor. He pays about $50 a year for help, visits 
his neighbors, and knows how to fish. No rich uncle ever left 
iiim any property. He began life by owning about half of his 
farm, and without any buildings upon it, and $5,000 would not 
buy his real estate to-day. This farmer is no myth ; we know 
liim, and more minute statistics might be given to show that 50 
acres is enough — enough, unless a man desires to dig and scrub 
over a large farm of half tilled acres, and perhaps not be any 
better off in the end than my easy friend with a small farm. 

144. It is a fact that a 200 acre farm might be made equally 
good ; but it is another fact that they seldom are. Thorough 
tillnge in New England cannot extend over a multitude of acres. 
Fifty acres of rich land (it can be made rich if poor now), with a 
snug house in a spacious yard, with an abundant fruitage, and 
everything as perfect as a man can make around it, is a work- 
ing man's paradise. There is his vine-wreathed arbor, in which 
to read his papers of a summer Sunday eve and behold the sua 
sink down tliro;:gh the golden gateway of the west, and wiiile 
there is everything beautiful and bright around him, in the house 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 71 

and out of doors, then why is it not all the paradise earth can 
give? We hold that the man who makes an acre of this earth 
more beautiful or productive, is doing Heaven service ; if he 
has not over 50 acres, he can make it all shine with fruition and 
beauty, and never ask discount. 

INCAPABILITIES OF FARMERS. 

145. It is a great undertaking to attempt to be a skillful, in- 
telligent, and successful farmer; and a farmer's success will de- 
pend more on his capabilities, his business capacity, and his 
management than on everything else; because there is not another 
occupation among all the trades, professions, arts, sciences, and 
practices of men which requires the exercise of so much good 
judgment, good skill, good planning, good execution, and good 
common sense as farming. We may make a tradesman, a doctor, 
or lawyer of the veriest piece of stupidity which the country 
affords, but he never can be made a farmer. A farmer needs mind. 
But how rare is that important quality. Most people have been 
accustomed to think that if a man or boy v^as so unaccountably 
stupid that he never could learn a trade, ** he would make a 
farmer." Never was there a more egregious error. Let us riddle 
this subject a little, and pour in a few rays of light on the " shady 
side of American agriculture." Take our country through, and 
we will not find any other occupation where the management is 
80 decidedly faulty and bad as may be found on the farm. But 
wliy is it so ? Simply because laborers have not learned the 
trade which they profess to understand. And the difficulty grows 
worse and worse every year. Ask your young clerks how much 
they receive per month for their services; and the answer will be, 
so much — usually about enough to pay for their board. Clerks 
are required generally to board themselves. As soon as they 
have learned the trade — learned to be a good salesman — they 
will command fair vfages, and not till then. 

146. Ask those young apprentices what wages they get per 
month. A¥hy so much — barely enough to pay their ))oard — • 
to say nothing of clothes. When they can perform a good job 



72 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

in a skillful and workmanlike manner, they expect to receive good 
wages, and not till then. But how is it with farmers ? Wliy, if 
a man or boy has two hands and two feet, and is as stupid as an 
animal with long ears, and if he don't know a sickle from a 
cradle, or a fanning-mill from a thrashing machine, he must have 
his twenty or more dollars ftr Tiwnih of twenty-six days, and hoard^ 
whether he can perform a single operation in the field or barn, 
in a workmanlike manner or not. Can he harness a span of liorsjs 
correctly, and hitch them to a plow, with the traces of the 
proper length, and adjust the plow to run right ? Not one in a 
thousand can do it. But he wants twenty dollars per month and 
board. Can he sow grain evenly ? Never sowed any, but guesses 
he could sow it. Upon trial some of the soil has nothing on it; 
while in other places the grain is thrown on in streaks so thickly 
that there will be little but straw. Docs hekiowhow to mow and 
cradle? 0, yes. And upon trial he can do it as well as a 
female can chop wood. Can he go and plow a field, and prepare 
it for a hoed crop, and plant and cultivate it in a farmer-like 
manner ? Yes, if he has a skillful boss to perform those parts, 
where the exercise of a little thought or mind is necessary. Give 
such men good tools to cut cord Wood, and to split rails, stakes, 
or po;-;ts, and in more than three-fourths of instances they will 
cut but little more than enough to pay for their board; and, for 
want of skill, they will spoil timber enough to pay a skillful 
laborer for all they will perform. Can they make a good undcr- 
drain ? The number of those who can do it is as few as the 
righteous of ancient Nineveh. But twenty dollars per month and 
board, cash, must come from some source. Tell them you want a 
board or a rail fence built. Can they build it ? If they have a 
skillful foreman to show them where and hmv to dig the hoi- s, to 
set the stakes, and to do every part that requires the exercise of 
a little thought and skill they can do it. Can they shear sheep ? 
Not a bit of it. Can they prune fruit trees? 0, yes. But it 
will be performed about as the professional fruit-grower from the 
Emerald Isle pruned a young orchard for his employer. When 
a died how he succeeded in prunino:, he replied, "And I pruned 
cone atalL boss; l^ut I have got tliL'm all cut down!" 



I 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 13 

141. A mechanic in a machine shop, when boring ont wheels, 
or fitting up the bearings of journals, is required to do his work 
so accurately that any wheel will fit any journal, in a workman- 
like manner. And if he bores out a wheel, or turns off a journal 
the thickness of a thin piece of paper too much, he is required 
to pay for the iron of which they are made. And this is right. 
He receives good pay for doing the work well; if he spoils it, he 
ouglit to pay for it. But how is it on the farm ? We pay an in- 
experienced, unskillful, and awkward laborer twenty dollars per 
month and board, to plow our fields in a workmanlike manner. 
For want of skill the team is stove up and abused; the plowing is 
performed in the most wretched manner; tools and implements 
are smashed up as if they were the property of a belligerent 
enemy. But " twenty dollars per month and board," or a settle- 
ment. If there were no more good management and skill exer- 
cised in other kinds of business than we uniformly witness inform- 
ing, most of our tradesmen and mechanics would become insolvent 
in less than one short year. 

THE REMEDY APPLIED. 

148. It is never becoming to find fault with a person con- 
cerning his system of management or his conduct, unless we show 
him immediately a better way, and also how he may improve by 
availing himself of the advantages which this better way proffers 
to hiuL Therefore we will commence at the very foundation — 
the root of the matter. In the first place, a man should learn his 
trade before he thinks of becoming a fnrmer. (See What a Far- 
mer Should Be, in the Introduction to Vol. I.) He should learn 
how to work any farm implement, and to wield any tool, in a 
skillful manner. He should learn to make a practical application 
of the principles of draft, when hitching teams to any im])lement, 
and how to manage any kind of team. Then he will be com- 
petent to decide whether a workman works correctly, and 
drives right or not. But as it now is, not one-half of the pro* 
prietors of farms can wield tools, and work implements, and per- 
form certain kinds of labor any better than awkward men. There 
4 



74 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

fore they are not competent to decide concerning a mans ability 
to labor. If farmers were skillful at all kinds of labor, and were 
masters of their bnsiness themselves, they would be prepared to 
test a laborer's ability, and to teach him how to work with .-kill 
and with profit to his employer. 

149. In the next place, if farmers were only masters of their 
profession, as all good mechanics and tradesmen are, they would 
be competent to fix some standard — as is done among mechanics 
— whereby to regulate a laborer's wages according to his ability. 
This is one of the most important considerations in the whole 
science of agriculture, in order to be a successful and progressive 
farmer. 

HOW MUCH IS A day's WORK? 

150. When Mr. A. employs B, and agrees to pay him so much 
per day or month, B. agrees, to all intents and purposes, whether 
the fact is or is not mentioned by either of the parties, to return to 
A. an equivalent in labor performed for the money received. In 
other words, B. virtually affirms that he is competent and willing to 
return a fair equivalent in services for the stipulated wages. This 
is equitable, fair, just, and right. Both parties agree as touching 
this point. Now, then, suppose for example that A. manages 
to defraud B. out of one-third or more of his wages, after he has 
performed faithful service ? Why, you exclaim, " That's down 
right knavery!" All right. Now, suppose B. don't know how to 
put his tools in order, nor how to use them after they have been 
put in order, and, consequently, is not able to perform half a 
day's work in a day. Or, suppose he is indolent, always tardy, 
always quitting work before the proper time, and never appears 
to care whether he performs a good day's work or not. " Well," 
you say, *' we must expect such actions; I don't know as there 
is any remedy for it." 

151. There is a remedy, and a very effectual one too, for 
such — knavery I Yes, that's the right word — down right knivcry! 
It is as great a moral evil for a man to agree to do right, and to 
be honest and faithful, and then not to do it, and thus cheat his 
employer, as it is for his employer to cheat him. Thousands upon 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL, t5 

thousands of laborers cherish no other idea, concerning an equiv- 
alent for their Avages, than " to keep a going or keep a doing.'^ 
"Idid'nt agree to do so much work," says a laborer, "I am 
only required to keep a going!" Illustrious stupidity. But far- 
mers alone are to blame for such erroneous notions concerning 
labor; and if they were masters of their employment, laborers 
would soon learn that they would receive pay according to the 
labor performed, and not according to the time that they squander 
away in doing little or nothing. 

152. But, how much is a day's work? A day's work is the 
amount of labor that a man of ordinary strength can perform, 
who can handle his tools skillfully, and labors faithfully during 
working hours. This is a day's work, at any khid of labor. In 
mowing grass, for example, if it is not down, and not very heavy, 
a man can cut from two to three acres in a day, if he knows how 
to put his scythe in order. The writer could do it, and did do it 
w^hen he was only fifteen years old, and is able to do it with ease 
at the present writing. But if grass were lodged, more or less, 
a man might labor hard and be able to cut not more than half an 
acre. Thus it is with almost every kind of farm labor. And 
we have made these suggestions that proprietors of farms may . 
investigate this subject, and thus obtain a more correct under- 
standing of what constitutes a day's work at any kind of labor. 
Every farmer ought to be so familiar with every branch of manual 
labor as to be able to decide at a glance whether a man has pei> 
formed a day's work or not. And if every farmer were master of 
his ])nsiness, could put his tools and implements in good order, 
and could handle them with dexterity and skill, indolent and dis- 
interested laborers would soon learn that they could not impose 
on farmers as they now do. And the result would be, farmers 
would get their work done much cheaper, better, more promptly, 
and with far less anxiety and perplexity than they now meet 
with. I have known farmers who did not know how much a day's 
work is, to censure laborers when they had worked faithfully, and to 
commend them when they had labored very unfaithfully. These 
considerations suggest to us why it costs some farmers twice as 



76 

mncli as it docs tlicir neighbors to cultivate tlie same number of 
acres of land on wliich the same crop is raised. 

SUCCESS WILL DEPEND ON MANAGEMENT. 

153. After reading all the best books: after obtaining the 
best tools and farm implements; and after consulting the best 
authorities for carrying on farming operations, success will de- 
pend on a man's general inanagement . It is the managements 
management first, management last, as well as the lest of manage- 
ment intermediately, and collaterally — that crowns a farmer's 
labors with success. This will involve everything when taken in one 
harmonious combination — the management of tiie soil and tlic man- 
agement of stock; the management of crops and the manage- 
ment of manure; the management in the field, and the management 
within doors; the management in the kitchen, and the manage- 
ment witli laborers and with hired girls; and last — iMit most 
difficult and important of all — -will be the right management of tlie 
loving wife and the darling babies. 

154. If a farmer does not possess the faculty of being a good 
manager in every department of his business, it will be the height 
of folly to cherish the idea that he is going to be successful as a 
farmer. In order to be able to manage a farm as it should be, 
a farmer needs more experience — more discipline — more prac- 
tice — more of an investigating spirit — and more rigid drilling in his 
business than a general does in military tactics, to be able to 
manage an army of soldiers. Let mo reiterate this thought; and 

let every young farmer, as well as old one write down this 

maxim in large letters, and place it where he can read it when 
Lis hands are laboring — your success will depend on your vvinage- 
ment. In order to give practical illustration of some of our ideas 
on good management, we copy a short communication which was 
penned several years ago for the Country Gentlenmn : 



TOE YOUNG FARMER^S MAN-ITAL. It 

GOING TO THE FIELD TO WGRIT. 

** A string in your button-hole, pin on your eleeve, 
A knife in your pofket, to whittle and cleave, 
A wrench and a hatchet, a nail and a bit, 
And a little acumen to make them all fit." 

Edwarm. 

155. One of the standing and oft-repeated mixiras of ray 
father to his sons and those in his employ was — " Never go away 
from home, even on a pleasant day, without an overcoat: and 
never go into the woods with a team without an axe." Tliis pre- 
cept was well endorsed by his inflix'ble exunplein both respectr,; 
and many times, that apparently needless overcoat, which sun 
and skies and the ever-changing, but now pleasant weather, 
assured us would be nothing but a burden to us, ha."^ proved to be 
a source of great comfort; and that faithful axe, which was car- 
ried to the woods and back again, many times without needing 
it, often saved an hour's work. Turning these suggestions to a 
good account, I have many times when hanhng timber or wood, 
nearly a mile from the workshop, found that a bit of twine, or a 
nail in my pocket, has enabled me to move along with my load, 
making only a few minutes' delay. Also, when the team goes to 
plowing, for instance, in a distant field, one of my rules is to hitch 
to the stone boat and take along an extra plow point, axe, 
wrench, hammer, a few nails, a billet of tough wood, a piece of 
old boot leg, a piece of twine and the water jug; for I find that, 
as a general thing, my hands always want a drink soon after 
they reach a distant field. Therefore I have them " call the roll," 
when about starting for the fields, so that half an hour or 
more of precious weather in seed time may not be lost. I do 
not advocate, or practice, tying up, and toggling harnesses and 
tools and implements, except pro te.m. No man is able to tell 
whether his tools and implements will or will not give out, when 
we would not have a team obliged to stand idle an hour for one 
dollar. Suppose the plow pomt should strike a fast stone and 
breai£, and another is not at hand. That hour, or half day 
during which the team was idle, waiting for another plow point, 



^8 THE YOFXG FAP.^IEr's MANUAL. 

may briii.i? a very important job within lialf a day of being ready 
for a heavy rain. Farming operations are often at the mercy of 
storms ; and I have often heard farmers say with deep regret, 
" Could I have had two hour.^, or half a day more, before this 
heavy rain came on, that field of grain might have been harrowed 
in, when it would have been worth many dollars more than it 
will be now." I remember of meeting with a teamster, with a 
load of lumber — several miles from home — who had just broken 
an iron loop in one of the hames. He was about unhitching to go 
home, as he had nothing in the shape of a string to tie up his 
broken hames. Recollecting how I got out of a snow drift once 
with a load, by using a few of the long hairs of Doll's tail in the 
place of a broken cockeye of the trace, a few of those strong 
hairs soon repaired his broken hame, and thus saved him a half 
day in returning after his load. 

REQUISITES OP A SUCCESSFUL FARMER SUMMED UP. 

15G. It requires a very smart man for a successful farmer. 
With all the money and agricultural books, and farm implements, 
o,nd good farms in the world, it will be impossible to make a suc- 
cessful farmer of a numbskull. He may be wrought into a 
minister — for the Almighty often chooses " the foolish things of 
this world to confound the wise," — but were he to live coeval 
with Methuselah, he would be obliged to emigrate to a new farm 
every thirty years, just as multitudes of men — not farmers — now 
do, by going to a new country to avoid starvation. 

15*1. The first crowning requisite of a successful farmer is a 
correct understanding of agriculture in all its branches. This 
involves almost everything, that we can mention, which is con- 
nected with the subject^. He requires knowledge to make a selec- 
tion of the best animals, that are best adapted to the soil and 
its productions; cultivating a rotation of crops which arc best 
adapted to the soil ; maintaining the fertility of the soil, by under • 
draining that which is excessively wet; and thorough pulveriza- 
tion and fertilization with materials which the farm affords; and 
laying all the plans for out-door and in-door's labor in such a 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. T0 

manner that everything will be attended to in good time, and 
without one interfering with the other. " Then," says J. J. 
Thomas in Annual Register^ *' the business, instead of being re- 
pulsive as it so frequently is to many of our young men, would be 
attended with real enjoyment and pleasure. But success must 
not be expected without industry and diligence. Labor must be 
the motto, and work the watcliword," 

158, My own practice always was to keep to work every day. 
When I could earn but twenty-five cents per day — work. When 
fifty — work. When one dollar, or five dollars, or eight dol- 
lars, I always kept working at improvements on the farm, or at 
tools and implements in the shop. But at the most busy season 
of the year, I always found time every day to do something 
towards keeping the mind active and thoughts clear. All the 
hard work that I ever performed, and I know I have " done a 
heap of it," never injured me. But bad habits have. And it is 
the bad habits, not the labor on a farm, that tires out and breaks 
down so many men. Therefore good kahits, with a knowledge of 
one's business, will constitute the crowning concomitant amon<j 
the first and the last requisites of a successful farmer. 

WATCHING FOR IMPEOVEMENTS. 

159. My own practice always has been to take practical ob- 
servaticms with refeience to various improvements on my farm, 
not only with reference to drainhig and improvement of soil, but 
in adapting different crops to a given soil; and the very best time 
to do this I always found to be when the soil was being plowed, 
and when the crops were being harvested. For example, when 
plowing, sometimes there would be a wet, springy place in a cer- 
tain part of the fiuld that required underdraining. Now, by ob- 
serving where the water came from when the soil was being 
plowed, I could often determine where a drain could be made tha+ 
would save a great many dollars' worth of drain, if it were made 
without knowing where the water came from that rendered a 
large spot so wet. Stakes would then be set where the drain 
should be made. Then, when the time arrived for making the 



80 THE YOUNG FARMER* S MANUAL. 

drain, I always knew exactly where to make it, where it would 
drain the soil most. Another way in which I was accustomed to 
watch for improvements was, both when plowing and harvesting, 
to notice particularly the poor as well as the rich spots, and drive 
down stakes at their borders. Then I always knew exactly where 
to api)ly fertihziiig material, and where more was neeJed. I 
have my mhid on portion-! of certain fields to which I never 
allowed a handful of fertilizing material to be applied during the 
sixteen years that it was cultivated, from which a crop was re- 
moved every year; and while other portions of the field were 
very highly manured, and extra pains taken to make them yield 
a crop about equal to the unmanured portions, still these un- 
manured parts would yield more than double the amount that 
would grow where manure was applied. In addition to the fore- 
going suggestions, every farmer should keep a vigilant eye on 
growing crops at all times, and watch the effects of underdrain- 
ing, deep plowing, shallow plowing, thick and thin seeding, as 
well as everything else that tends to reflect light on his occupa- 
tion, and to render his labor lighter, his forces more effective, his 
crops heavier, and his farm more valuable. 

PRACTICAL MAXIMS FOil YOUNG FARMERS. 

IGO. Many farmers do not know when they are really doing 
well; and many times, when they have made an excellent begin- 
ning, and arc in a fair way to make a good mark in life, and to 
distinguish themselves as excellent farmers, will " sell out." If a 
man is doing well, he ought to know it. And if he is not doing 
well, he should satisfy himself that he can better his condition by 
selling his farm. Slick to your farm; and if you have a good 
location, do not sell out expecting to better it because you are 
off'ered a good price. If your neighbors can make farming pay on 
your farm, resolve that you can do it as well as they can. The 
Country Gentleman says: "Do not change farms often; for by so 
doing you can carry out no definite system of improvement. An 
excellent farmer may spend several years on a farm before he will 
be able to determine what system of farm manajrement he had 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 81 

better adopt, and which will be best adapted to his soil. Do not 
begin to improve till you have a general plan of what you wish 
to do; to do so would be like commencing to get out timbers for 
a house before you know its length and breadth. Unless your 
crops are good ones, sow less and plow better. Lay out a system 
of improvv^ments for your farm and buildings; and, as your means 
I)ermit, carry these plans out. Do not enter upon speculation with 
other people's money, or your own, unless you see cloarly that you 
will make profits; and even then do not do it to the neglect of 
your farming. Do not mortgage your farm for money to buy 
goods; very few men Ciin enter the mercantile business without 
training for it, and not become bankrupt. Do not buy fancy stock 
and pay fabulous prices, on the spur of the moment, or without 
knowing why you want it, and how you are to make the invest- 
ment profitable. Do not keep poor stock when you can keep good 
at the same expense, and with four times the profit. Do not 
cha':!ge your kind of farming, because what you raise this year is 
low-priced, for that which is high. Ten chances to onu your crop will 
be up next year, and that which is up now will then be down. Do 
not try to grow those crojjs for which your farm is not well adapted- 
Resolve that your farm shall be a profitable one, if industry and 
good management will make it so. Invest your surplus earnings 
in making such improvements as will add to the profit, appearance, 
and convenience of your farm. When you make experiments, see 
that jou keep within the laws of nature. These are the farmer's 
helps. Make such experiments as appear to be reasonable, no 
matter what your neighbors say. Make yourself thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the principles of agriculture, and be guided by 
tiiem. Do not keep more stock on your farm than you have plenty 
of pasture for. Never enlarge your farm when half of it is not half 
cultivalcd. If you own more- land than you can till well, pre in 
debt, or need funds to make necessary improvements, sell part of 
.your farm, and use the money to pay your debts, and make your 
improvements. Never borrow money to build a showy house, 
when a less pretentious one would answer better; and never lend 
money when you have poorly tilled land to improve. 
i* 



82 THE you?Jg farmer's manual. 

161. This is a great error with American farmers — to bnild 
siicli spacious dwelling houses, and very small outbuildings. 
Tiicre is but little danger that a farmer will erect ontbuildiiigs 
too capacious. But the common practice, which prevails all over 
our country, of building so much houso room, that cannot be 
used to any kind of advantage, and launching into debt for it, a3 
thousands of young farmers are accustomed to do, is a practice 
til. t cannot be denounced in too strong terms. Erect a plain, 
cheap, and comfortable dwelling hon^e Jlrsf,; and use up all money 
that is accumulated from year to year in cirrying out improve- 
ments in the field, instead of putting it on interest. Solomon says 
(Prov. xxiv. 21.): ''Prepare thy work without, and make it fit 
for thyself in the field, and afterwards bnild thy house." Re- 
member that a thousand dollars invested in large parlors and 
costly furniture will increase the amount of a farmer's taxes a 
great many dollars; whereas had that sum been invested in 
erecting necessary outbuildings, and in improving the live stock 
of the farm, and in improving the fertility of the soil, which 
would render the farm really more valuable, his taxes would be 
comparatively less. Let me reiterate this caution, not to ciect 
costly dwelling houses until the farm has been brought to such a 
degree of fertility as will be in keeping with an expensive dwell- 
ing house. (See Vol. I., p. 24.) 

THE PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES OF MOMENTUM. 

162. Our apology for introducing momentum is, that former 
writers have not discussed its practical advantages to farmers. 
Momentum is the force of motion. Philosophy teaches 
us that if two bullets, for example, one weighing one pound^ 
and the other ten pounds, were to strike each other squarely 
when the one pound bullet was moving ten times faster 
than the large one, they would both be brought to a dead 
stand still, and would drop to the ground. The theory on this 
])oint is correct ; but it would fail in practice on account of the 
elasticity and compressibility of matter. The large bullet would 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 83 

be indented a little, while the small one would be very much 
flattened, and carried with the large bullet in its course. 

163. An excellent illustration in practice is furnished in driv- 
inf^ slim nails into the tough hoofs of animals. With a very light 
hammer, by which the momentum is obtained by a quick and 
swift motion, tile nails aro driven in with no difficulty, when not 
a single one could be driven with a heavy hammer, whose mo- 
mentum would be exactly equal to the momentum of the small 
hammer. And this holds good when driving nails into hard 
wood, where they are liable to double up after they have entered 
but a short distance. With a light hammer they can be driven; 
but with a heavy one they will double up when the momentum 
of both hammers is, in theory, the same. When a man drives a 
stake into the ground on account of the elasticity and compres* 
sibility of matter, he cannot do it with a light hammer, because 
the wood will batter up so badly. Therefore, he takes a heavy 
hammer; and by means of the momentum of a heavy body 
moving slowly, he performs what he could not do with a light 
body mo vino; rapidly. When a sleigh or wagon is frozen fast to 
the ground, instead of taking a hammer or some light body to 
knock it loose with a quick blow, which would damage some por- 
tion of it, we tak'3 a piecs of timber as large as we can handloj 
and thus, by the momentum of a heavy body moving slowly, we 
accomplish, without injuring anything, that which could not be 
done with a light body when wielded quickly. 

THE PnOPER MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION OF TOOLS AND 
IMPLEMENTS. 

164. There is no more important principle in agricultural 
dynamics than a correct understanding of the most proper weight 
for every tool and implement. Mechanics, who make the tools, 
as well as the farmers who use them, should understand correctly 
the difference between accomplishing a certain result by means of 
muscular force only, or chiefly by the momentum of a tool. In 
turning a fanning mill, for example, the force required is entirely 
muscular — the power of the arms. We cannot avail ourselves of 



84 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

any aid ])y using a balance wheel on the journal of the fans. But 
a balance wheel of thirty or forty pounds on the journal with the 
crank would enable a man to turn it with less fatigue to his 
arms. This is on the same principle that a man can turn a jour- 
nal having a wheel or a grindstone on it that weighs one hundred 
pounds, when no one is grinding, with much less fatigue than he 
can turn nothing but the journal, because the momentum of the 
wheel will aid the muscles of the arm in raising the crank 
at every revolution. (Read about A Grindstone — IIow to 
Select, How to Hang It, Vol. I. p. 374 ) But the smaller and 
lighter a grindstone is the less muscular force v.ill be required to 
turn it while one is grindino:, unless he turns it with a treadle. 

1G5. We attach balance wheels to straw cutters, corn shellers, 
root cutters and saws, for the purpose of accumulating the force, 
or of doing by the momentum of the ^heel what could not be 
done by muscular force alone. But the error that I desire to point 
out here is, in making balanca wheels too heavy. There is a 
great efficiency in a balancr} wheel when it is not too heavy in pro- 
portion to the force employed to turn it at a given velocity. If, 
for example, a v.heel weighing one hundred pounds be attached 
to a circular saw driven by two horses at the rate of ten or 
twelve hundred revolutions per minute, the momentum of that 
wheel, in connection with the muscular force of the horses, will 
operate very effectively in sawing wood. But as the wheel ia 
much lighter than this, it will not accumulate so much of the 
force of the horses. And if it be increased in weight, the in- 
creased weight will absorb too large a portion of the muscular 
force to keep it in motion. 

166. Balance wheels are put on hand corn-shellers many times 
twice as heavy as they should be, because they absorb much of 
the effective muscular force of the person who turns them. VV^hen 
a man cannot tell when an ear is being shelled, the wheel is too 
heavy. A wheel may be heavy enough to absorb all the muscular 
force to put a machine in motion, so that it will do little or no 
vvork at all. A cylinder of a thrashing machine is a modification 
of a balance wheel. The momentum of a cylinder and spikes 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 85 

does the thrashing. Xow, if a heavy cylinder be used with a two 
horse machine, all of the effective muscular force of the horses will 
be absorbed in driving the cylinder fast enough to thrash grain 
clean. When I was a young man I made a turning lathe to be 
driven by hand or a treadle. The wooden driving wheel was 
about five feet in diameter, and would weigh about one hundred 
and tliirty pounds. I could drive it with one foot, and turn at 
tlie same time with ease. Many people told me that my driving 
wheel was not large enough nor heavy enough, and that a larger 
and heavier wheel would run as easy again as that light one. So 
I procured another wheel, seven feet in diameter, that would 
weigh over two hundred pounds, and hung it where the light one 
was. But, to my great surprise, it required all my leg-power to 
simply get up motion high enough for turning, and I could do 
nothing at all with it. It was too heavy for the muscular force 
employed to turn it. 

THE CORRECT W^EIGHT OF TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. 

167. When labor is performed by means of muscular strength 
only, the lighter tools and implements can be made with con- 
sistent strength the better they will be. Read about the Shovel 
and Spade, Vol. I. p. 23S. As nothing can be effected by the 
momentum of the shovel and spade, the lighter they are the better 
they will be, if sufficiently strong. So it is with pitch forks, 
band rakes, grain sickles, corn cutters, and many other tools 
which are worked with muscular force only. These should always 
be made as light as possible, with consistent strength. The 
grass scythe and snath, the grain cradle and the broad hoe, are 
tools whose efficiency depends almost entirely on the muscular 
force that wields them. The momentum of a broad hoe does not 
amount to much. Therefore the lighter it is the less a man will 
feel fntigued in using it. The efficiency of a grain cradie will 
depend, in a very limited degree, on its momentum. Bat they 
are made so heavy almost always, that more is lost by uiiueces- 
sary fatigue in handling them than is gained by the momentum 
of a heavy cradle. Grass scythes are worked almost entirely by 



86 THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUi»L. 

muscular force. Therefore let them be as light in every part as 
is possible with the strength required. See the article on How to 
Grind, Hang, and Use Grass Scythes and Cradle Scythes, fully ex- 
plained and illustrated on p. 382 of Vol. I. ; also read the chapter 
on Edge Tools, p. 369, Vol. I. When any tool is only one [)ound 
too heavy to be equal to the muscular force that wields it, that 
unnecessary pound will operate against the'efficiency of it. Every 
farmer should make himself familiar with the strength of 
materials in constructing farm implements, and always aim to 
have them made as light as will subserve the purpose for which 
they are designed. 

168. Wheel vehicles, lumber wagons and carts, are almost 
always made one, two, or three hundred pounds heavier than is 
necessary for the strength required. This unnecessary weight is 
a nuisance, because it absorbs so much of the effective muscular 
force of the team. This is particularly true concerning ox carts 
and ox sleds. They are often heavy enough for a team without 
any load on them. Plows, horse hoes, and wheel cultivators liavo 
been very greatly improved, as it respects their correct weight, 
and still there can be quite as much improvement made in many 
of them as has already been made. The momentum of a plow 
does not amount to anything towards drawing it — consequently 
the tens of unnecessary pounds of iron and wood that are worked 
into them, in places where it only increases the weight, thus 
absorbs the effective force of the team. (See Liglit and 
Heavy Flows in the chapter on Plowing.) We trust that these 
Fiindom suggestions will induce farmers to think and to investi- 
gate the principles of mechanics and of agricultural dynamics, 
and thus have their tools and im[)lements made of the most cor- 
rect weiglit, as well as form, to secure the greatest effective force 
when they are in operation. 

AN AGRICULTURAL SER:M0N'. 

169. "If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the un- 
righteous mammon, who will commit to you the true riches V* 

Luke xvi. 11. Mammon means worldly possessions, such as real 



THK YOUxVG farmer's MANUAL. 8t 

estate, farms and their appendages, and tli3 live stock of a farm. 
The true riches means the pleasures, the happiness;, and the endur- 
ing enjoyment which are reserved for those who love and serve the 
Lord in this world. Thus the apostle says : " Eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man 
the things — the true riches — which God has prepared for them 
that love him." 1 Cor. ii. 9. The true riches may mean eternal 
life; and the expression stands in contra distinction to mammon 
of unrighteousness, or the things which constitute worldly po^> 
sessions. 

170. The argument made use of in the text by the Son of 
God is, that if a man has been unfaithful in his business, or in 
the management of his earthly affairs, he would be rejected in 
the next world from holding any position; because he had been 
uu'faithful in managing the affairs of others — which is emphatically 
true of a farmer. He is only a trustee or a steward, or agent to 
manage a farm for a few years. It is not his. It is only entrusted 
to him to cultivate — to improve by art — to embellish; and 
to make it a source of comfort to himself while he remains trus- 
tee or manager of it; and then to leave every part of it as good 
as he found it. Hence the words of the text: " If you have not 
been faithful in managing your worldly possessions, or unrighteous 
mammon, who will commit to you the true riches ?" Or, as the 
Great Superintendent of agriculture will not commit to you any 
heavenly possessions, because you have been so unfaithful in the 
inanagement of your farming operations, who do you expect will 
do it ? If you forfeit all claim to any inheritance by your u i- 
faithfulness in Mttle affairs, in the management of a farm, f j: 
example, when you are done with the unrighteous mammon, aril 
go up to the throne of the great Agriculturist, with the expec- 
tation of receiving anything that he has promised to the faithful 
in this world, you will meet with a sad disappointment; because 
the Almighty will not commit to unfaithful men the true ricbr s 
of his dominion. And if he who is the sole possessor and king 
refuses to commit anything to your trust, " who," says Jesus* 
" will do it ?" This was his affectionate way of telling his dis- 



S8 

ciplesby asking them a question, that if they were unfaithful ia 
the mauage-ment of their earthly affairs or farms, God would be- 
queath tlie inheritance that was designed for them to others who 
had been faithful in little things. We see from this subject 

THE DUTY OF A FARMER TO KEEP HIS SOIL GOOD. 

171. A farmer is a trustee, or a steward. His great Em- 
ployer has committed a cliarge to him, and said: " Occupy till 
I remove you. Raise whatever crops you choose; but keep the 
soil in as good a state of fertility as it was when you received it. 
The soil is to support those who will come after you. It is the 
worst kind of robbery to take crop after crop of grain off a farm, 
and do nothing towards repairing the waste. He who recklessly 
adopts a bad system of husbandry not only wrongs himself but 
is guilty of great injustice to his siiccesssors. The Creator 
works by means; and he will not restore impoverished soils by a 
miracle. If a farmer, by bad husbandry, injures the fertiUty of 
his soil, he, and those who come after him, must suffer the damage 
resulting from his abuse of the resources of the farm. It is 
therefore the solemn duty of every man to try to keep his soil in 
a good state of fertility, by means of the maimrial resources 
which it affords. If he does as well as every farmer m%y do, the 
day will soon dawn when our grass fields will yield two spears 
where only one grows now; and all our crops of cereal grain will 
be increased at least two-fold. Every farmer can do this in a 
few years by simply commencing a renovating system; by under 
draining, manuring, and growing crops in rotation. Let young 
farmers resolve to leave their soil in a better state of fertility than 
they received it. Then they will have the satisfaction of knowing 
that they have been " faithful in the unrighteous mammon." 

now TO RE XT A FARM. 

112. The correct way to arrive at a fair price for both par- 
ties is the following : add the value of the cultivated land and 
buildings to the value of the sto^^k an 1 tools. If a renter have 
tio benefit of wood land, the growth of timber and increasing 



rnE YOUNG farmer's manual. 89 

Talne of Llie land will be an equivalent for the interest on it. 
Now, if a renter agrees to pay to the proprietor annually, six, 
seven, eight or more per cent on the aggregate value of stock, im- 
plements and farm, and keep the soil in a good state of fertility, 
and make certain improvements every year, the proprietor will 
receive a better compensation than the renter. A renter could 
not make a decent profit on many farms were he to hire them 
at six per cent; while on others, he could afford to pay twelve 
per cMit The productiveness of the soil must be taken into 
account. Then the per centage must be lessened in proportion 
as a renter makes improvements that will increase the value of the 
farm. If he rents a farm for a term of years, and certain im- 
provements will benefit him as well as the proprietor, each one 
should share iti the expense. 

113. A written contract between the parties should require 
the renter to adopt a rotation of crops adapted to the soil; to 
allow nothing to be carried off the farm that would make manure; 
to allow no manure to be wasted by remaining in heaps from year 
to year; to keep tlie stock good;J;o keep all tools, implements 
and buildings in good repair, making allowance for their natural 
wear; a;.d not to damage fruit or ornamental trees in any way. 
The prices at which everything is valued in different localities 
renders it quite inconsistent to do anything farther than simply 
make suggestions on important points, at which a fiiir contract 
for both parties may be framed. AVhen a farm is worked oa 
shares, the proprietor should so frame the contract, that hay, 
straw, cornstalks and other coarse material shall not be carried 
off the soil; and he who works it should make and apply a given 
amount of manure annually. If foreign fertilizers are applied, 
the proprietor ought to sustain a small portion of the expense, if 
be receives a share of tl o grain. The couti'act should not allow 
a man to plow up the entire farm at one time, so that there will 
be no grass the next season, either for pasture or meadaw. 

DETAILS CF FARMING OPERATIONS POR THE SEASON. 

174. The first crop to be put in, in the spring, will be spring 



90 

wlicat or barley, then oats may be sowed. As soon as the oat? 
have been put in, it will be time to commence preparations 
for a crop of Indian corn. After the Indian corn is planted, 
turnips should be planted. After this plow the buckwlieat 
ground, or plant a crop of beans, or both. 

175. At this period, there will probably be a week or two 
in which to shear sheep, make fences and drains, &c. Then, if 
proper calculations have been made the year previous, there will 
be a field of early grass to cut, to make into hay. Then, by 
the time the hay is made, the corn will need to be cultivated. 
Then, the turnips will need attention. Then, buckwheat must be 
sowed. After these operations, late grass may be cut. Then, go 
through the corn again. By this time the golden grain will be 
ready for the reaper. After harvest, preparations must be made 
for a crop of winter wheat, by plowing, and making com})Ost. 
Lowery weather au.l rainy days should be spent in making im- 
provements around the out-buildings; and weeds must all be cut 
or pulled up among the Indian corn, turnips and beans. The 
care of stock will also come in through the entire season among 
the incidentals. 

176. After winter wheat has been put in, there will be a week 
or two of comparative leisure, when stones may be hauled, ditches 
made, fences repaired, and potatoes dug. If Indian corn and 
buckwheat are still green and growing, fallplowhig may be done. 
Then, Indian corn must be cut up. After this buckwheat will be 
ready to be cut and secured. Then, apples must be gathered; 
Indian corn must be husked, the stalks must be secured; and roots 
pulled; and fall plowing finished. 

177. Tlie foregoing details are calculated for only a certain 
kind of soil. The intelligent farmer will understand that tliese 
are given only as an illustration of the details of a single instance; 
and they are designed to aid him in laying out his field labors 
in such manner as to have profitable labors going on during the 
entire growing season, so far as may be practicable. Wa may 
illustrate this subject still further by alluding to the details of 
the numerous 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 91 

INJUDICIOUS SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT. 

1*78. Thnt are ])ractised to a very great extent all over the 
country. On some farms, notliing but oats and summer fallow, 
and a crop of wheat follow each other, from year to year. Such 
a system of management makes a great amount of labor at seed 
tune as well as at harvest. The labors of men and teams are 
not distributed throughout the season. Consequently, additional 
teams and laborers must be secured at a very costly rate, in 
order to accomplish the work in the proper time. And if crops 
are not put in or not harvested in good time, the proprietor must 
sustain more or less loss. But it suits many farmers to employ a 
host of teams and hands at one time, so as to have the work all 
done up; and then have nothing to do for many long weeks 
together. 

FITTING UP MACHINERY. 

" The ringiner of the anvil, trte grating of the drill. 

The ola*<ering of the turning lathe, the whining of the mill, 
The pufBng of the • ngine, the driving of the awl. 
These busy sounds of workshops I love, I love them all. 

Mrs. F. D. Gage, 

179. Farmers must, of necessity, use a large number of 
machines and implements; and as many new ones are introduced, 
which are manufactured by men who are not and never can be 
worthy of the title — a good machinist — my design here is to lay 
down a few plain and practical directions on fitting up macliinery, 
not so much for the purpose of aiding a farmer in doing \t himself, 
as for enabling him to understand how it should be done by a 
machinist, and when a job is performed in a workmanlike man- 
ner. (See Introduction to Vol. I.) 

180. The superior excellence of almost any machine or imple- 
ment consists in the most symmetrical proportion of its parts — 
its simplicity as opposed to its complexity, and the workmanlike 
manner in which the various jmrts are fitted up. One of the 
most prominent features of perfection in fitting up machinery is, 
the stillness with ivhich it runs. Some kinds of machinery will 
always make a tremendous noise when in motion, even when fitted 



92 THE YOITNO farmer's MAVrAL. 

np most jtorfcctly; but, for the most part, the incessant clatter, 
and rattle and jar, and tumblmg of mncliinery — sometimes noisy 
as " the seven thunders " — can be traced to imperfect construc- 
tion or fitting' up. There are a liost of very important consi- 
derations to be taken into account, in constructing any kind of 
machinery, in order to make every part ju^^t as it sliould he. 
Every redundant pound of wood or iron should be rejected or cut 
away; and every part which is subjected to more or less strain 
should be made of a form which will be strongest when made of 
the smallest amount of materials; and those parts which are 
liable to wear, should be of such form and condition as will ran 
together with the smallest amount of friction. The force em- 
ployed for working machinery on the farm is quite limited; 
therefore every redundant pound of materials in a machine, and 
every imperfection in fitting up the working parts of it, detract 
in the proportion of their magnitude from the efficiency when in 
operation. 

181. Every machine should be made of as few parts as will 
be most convenient and pj-acticahle. The larger the number of 
wheels and journals in any machine, the more friction there will be, 
and the more liable it will be to get out of order. Consequently, 
the greater the amount of friction, the more of the effective force 
which drives it will be absorbed in simply putting the machine 
in operation. Hundreds of machines and implements are con- 
structed so improperly and unwieldy, that it is no uncommon 
thing to have more force absorbed in giving an effective velocity 
to them, rvit/wiU performing any work, than would be required 
to perform a good business, besides putting them in motion, pro- 
viding they were properly constructed and fitted up. 

JOURNALS OF MACHINES. 

182. Journals are the spindles or shafts which sustain the 
wheels and pullies and othei* parts which revolve. The hearings 
of journals are those parts which rest in cavities or holes called 
boxes. Journals are also called arbors, and sometimes improp 
erly called gu l^-eons. But arbors are only those parts of a 



THE YOUNG FAUMER's MANUAT. 93 

jonrnal that revolve in the boxes. Gudgeons are iron pins or 
bearings niserted in the ends of wooden shafts or eyUnders, Mnd 
do not, jik3 journals, extend from end to end of a shaft. The 
bearings of all machinery, when saving power is any object, should 
be made as small as possible with the consistent strength. The 
smaller in diameter the bearings are, the less force will be 
absorbed when putting machinery in motion. The bearings of 
the greater part of all agricultural machinery are made too un- 
profitably large. The size of the bearings exert a much greater 
influence on the ease with which machinery may be worked than 
most machinists are accustomed to compute. A journal four feet 
long, sustaining wheels or puUies having a high motion, will run 
more steadily and smoother than if it were only a foot long. If 
the bearings of a journal of a cylinder to a thrashing machine are 
about seven eighths of an inch in diameter — which is sufficiently 
large for small thrashers — less power will be absorbed to make 
it revolve at a given velocity than if the bearings were an 
inch and a half in diameter. When almost all the strain is 
applied to one end of a journal when it is made to revolve, 
and every little stress comes on the bearing at the other end, the 
last one referred to may be made very much smaller than the 
one near the other end; and it is always well, and usually hest, 
to make the end small under such circumstances. 

FITTING Ur THE BEARINGS OF JOURNALS. 

183. This is a piece of work of which most farmers have no prac- 
tical knowledge; and the majority of them do not even understand 
the importance of having them properly fitted. When the bearings 
of a journal are hammered as true as is practicable, and//e^Z 
smooth as they can be, they are utterly unfit for any part of a 
machine in which saving of power or diminishing of friction is 
any object. The most skillful machinist in the world cannot fit 
up the bearings of a journal- with hammers and files alone in -i 
proper manner, any more than he could cut out a neat bedstead 
without a turning lathe; because such tilings cannot be made 
perfectly round and true without being held in a lathe, while 



94 THE YOUNG FAKMKR^S MANUAL. 

they arc being fitted. If tie bearings are not entirely true and 
smooth, the friction will be great, and the bearings, or their boxes, 
or both, will lieat, even wlien well oiled; and will very soon be 
so badly cut out or worn away, that a break-dowii will be the 
sure result. 

184. In oi'der to fit up the bearings properly, depressions are 
made with a pointed punch in the ends of the journal, exactly in th 
centre^ when it is put in the lathe, and made to revolve slowly, 
while the bearings are turned as true and smooth as they can be 
by cutting a shaving so small, the last time going over it, that it 
is hardly perceptible to the naked eye. After they have been 
turned they are sometimes filed a little as they revolve, and then 
polished with emery and oil so brightly that the workman can 
see the color of his eyes in them as in a looking glass. A kind 
of clamp, made of soft wood, is used to squeeze the bearings, 
which holds the emery and oil, while polishing them. Sometimes it 
is done by holding a soft-wood stick on them as the journal re- 
volves rapidly. The emery is held by b:4ng imbedded in the 
stick while the stick is pressed on the bearings. In fitting up a 
journal of wrought iron, one side of the bar is frequently so hard 
that it will take the edge off the turning chisel in an instant 
For this reason a bearing often wears on one side — the soft side 
— so that it is of an oval form. This is particularly the caso 
when the boxes are harder than the bearings. After the bearings 
have been polished they are sometimes case hardened, by making 
a thin portion of the surface of the bearings entirely around them 
as hard as a file. 

185. Journals are sometimes made of steel, which are always 
much superior to common wrought iron, especially for small 
ones. As steel will admit of a fi.ier polish than iron, machinery 
may be made to run much easier on steel bearings than on iron 
ones. 

186. Journals are often made of cast iron, and when there is 
not much strain or jerk on them they are quite as good, and 
sometimes better than wrought iron. As the surface of even soft 
cast iron is covered with a very hard, rough scale when it comes 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 95 

from the furnace, the bearings of the pattern should always be 
made an eighth of an inch or more larger than they are to be 
when fitted up, in order to make suitable allowance for turning 
off the hard scale. 

187. Cast iron gudgeons are often fitted to their shafts with- 
out boiiig turned either before or after they are put in. The 
true way to fit up a shaft of any kind, with gudgeons in the 
end, is to put in the gudgeons ^?*s^, before either are turned, and 
then put them in a lathe and turn the bearings and shaft, if 
desirable, as if the whole were one journal. The most skillful 
machinist in the world cannot put the gudgeons into a shaft 
after they have been turned, and have them run as true and easy 
as they would if they were turned after they were put in. The 
least perceptible variation from trueness in the bearings will cause 
a journal to run harder than it sliould if it were true, and it will 
soon begin to wear on one side, or to cut the box. 

188. I have in mind several men who did not appreciate 
the importance of having the bearings of shafts and journals 
neatly fitted up in a lathe, who failed entirely in accomplishing 
their purpose from this single neglect. I well remember that when 
a small lad my father employed a mechanic to build a horse 
power for a cider mill. The gudgeons were cast iron, and were 
put in without being turned. I know it was very hard work for 
two horses to work it; but had the bearing been properly fitted 
up in a lathe, one horse would have been able to do more with it 
than two were accustomed to perform. Most men appear to 
think that if a gudgeon is cast after a round and smooth pattern, 
it will be just as well to file them a little without turning them. 
But it is a very great error to think so; and, more than this, the 
expense for files to file off the hard scale on cast iron would be 
greater than the expense of turning, and the job w^ould not bo 
half done, as it should be. When fitting large gudgeons into a 
water-wheel shaft, or fitting a crank into the shaft of a new mill, 
they would run enough better to pay the expense of carrying the 
shaft ten miles to have the bearings turned after the gudgeons 
Jiave been put in. The bearings are much better, except for very 



96 THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 

small ones, when four inches long, than when only two inches 
lonG^. 

o 

FITTING A SMALL JOURNAL TO A LARGE HOLE. 

189. It is a very common thing that a wheel of some kind, 
having a hole already bored out in the centre of it, would fit a 
certain journal if the hole in it were not larger than the journal. 
AVhen a journal is not more than a hundredth part of an ineli 
smaller than the hole, if wrought iron, it may be hacked a Uttlc 
with a cold chisel all round it, and then turned off true. Some- 
times a piece of tin or sheet iron put round the journal will make 
a good fit. When there is a half inch or more difference between 
them, let a blacksmith pat two red hot rings on the j(3urnal — 
shrinking them on — when they may be turned off to fit the wheel 
as neatly as if it were a large journal. Twenty-five cents ex- 
pended in this way will sometimes save a number of dollars. 

FITTING UP BOXES FOR THE BEARINGS 

190. This operation has almost as much influence in render- 
ing machinery perfect as fitting up the hearings o{ the journals in 
a ncut manner. Iron boxes, except when a shaft revolves slowl}', 
arc not half as good as some other metal. Indeed, no machinery 
will run as easy and as long without heating and wearing, 
wdien the boxes are iron, as it will if they are wood, brass, 
copper, lead, or some other metal. When any part of machinery 
has a reciprocating motion, like the connecting rod or i)itman of 
mowers or reapers, where there is a higli motion, and as much 
jerking and thrusting as there is in that part of a reaper, the 
cross heads at the end of the pitman ought to be made of one 
large piece of brass, not less than two inches wide, instead of a 
little, thin, narrow eye of iron, fitted to the crank or wrist pin of 
the cam, which wMll heat and wear out in one season. Tliis is a 
vci-y great defect in nearly all tl;e mowers and I'capers now 
manufactured. When boxes are made of iron t"::ey ought always 
to be bored out true and smooth in a lathe. Some times iron 
bxxes are bored out just enough larger than the bearing to 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 97 

admit of being lined or bushed with strips of slieet iron. Sheet 
copper is often made use of for bushing wooden boxes. Machinery 
will run much easier with co'pper boxes than when they are iron; 
and when the timber of a machine is hard wood, it is so-metimes 
better to bore out or gouge out a groove in the wood, and fit a 
piece of sheet copper in it, and hammer the ends of it down, and 
nail them to the wood. 

191. Another manner of fitting up boxes is to cut out the 
wood a half inch or so larger than the bearing, and fasten the 
journal, after it has been finished, exactly in the place where it is 
to be when the machine is in motion, and then pour in melted 
lead or zinc, or babbet metal, so that it will form a half box for 
the bearings. Previous to pouring in the melted metal the 
polished bearing should be oiled. This is a very cheap way 
of making good boxes; and a large portion of machinery is fitted 
up in this way. When boxes are bored out and bolted to the 
wood work of a machine, it sometimes requires all the skill of a 
good machinist to get the boxes just right. But when the 
polished bearings are held in their places, and melted metal 
poured around them, they will be correct without fail. When 
lead or zinc is used for boxes, the bearings mu=;t be neatly 
polished and must be kept well oiled. Machinery wi;h lead boxes 
will run as easy as when they are made of any other metal; and if 
the machinery is not heavy, nor subjected to powerful strains and 
thrusts, it will wear well. 

192. I have a grindstone, saw journal, and some other pieces 
of machinery, which have run in lead boxes for twelve years, and 
are as good as when they were new. Zinc and babbet metal 
being much harder than lead, are preferable to it, unless ma- 
chinery is always to be in the care of a man who will always 
keep the bearings well oiled. 

193. AVhen circular saws, and some other kinds of machinery, 
are run by water or steam all day, the bearings run in large 
boxes, which have a recess in the bottom part large enough to 
contain a quart of oil, which is supplied and applied to the 
bearings as fast as it wears away, by meauo of a strip of lamp 

5 



98 THE YOUxVG farmer's MANUAL. 

wick, one end of which is in the oil and the other end is in con- 
tact with the bearing; and the oil is taken to the bearings by 
capillary attraction, just as it ascends to the top of the tubes of a 
lamp. 

194. Both boxes and bearings of all kinds of machinery 
sliould be very smooth; and, for most kinds of machinery, they 
shonld fit each other so neatly that tliere will be no play between 
them; and the bearings should not fit so tightly as to make it run 
one pound harder. 

195. Should there be a sixteenth of an inch play up and 
down in the bearings of a thrashing machine cylinder — if it is ac- 
curately balanced — it will be just as well as if they fitted without 
a particle of room for play. But the bearings of a saw journal 
should have no play, nor should it fit so tight as to make it run 
any harder than it would if it had a K^tlc play. 

196. The boxes of a journal which produces a reciprocating 
motion, by means of a crank or cam, should always fit the bear- 
ings without any play. If there be any play in the boxes, the 
amount of play will increase faster and faster the longer a 
machine is run. There is danger, also, if there is toothed gearing 
on such journals, of breaking the wheels, in consequence of too 
much play in the boxes; and the liability to break and wear the 
teetii ujievenly always becomes greater as the amount of play b.e- 
tween the bearings and the boxes increases. Boxes are too fre- 
quently made too narrow. Many times they are only two inches 
wide, and wooden boxes at that, when they should be substantial 
metallic boxes, not less than four inches wide. 

197. Suppose they are narrow, you say, what difference does 
it make ? One chief reason is, when they are very narrow there 
is more friction in a short space than there is in so nmcli space in 
wide boxes, and ten drops of oil on a bearing four inches long 
will not wear out and leave the bearing dry half as soon as it 
would if a box only two inches wide were in the same place. The 
boxes of the main journal of my railway horse power were 
originally made of wood only two inches wide. The result was 
that after three or four years they wore so rapidly that tho 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S SIANUAL. 99 



pinions on the shaft wore out, and the expense of sending to 
Albany, where the power was made, for new pinions, and fitting 
them up, cost several dollars. If the manufacturers had made 
such boxes as they ought to have done for the price of the power, 
those pinions would have been good for many years afterwards. 
Farmers should not neglect to examine such parts of machinery 
when about to purchase, and insist on having every part fitted 
up in a proper and workmanlike manner. 

BALANCING MACHINERY, AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 

198. Why does a thrashing machine tremble sometimes in 
such a manner that it jars the building that it stands in ? Because 
one side of the cylinder is heavier than the other; or, as 
machinists say: *' It is not balanced." Why does a circular saw 
frequently tremble so as to raise the frame from the ground, and 
to keep it jumping up and down, as if it possessed life and the 
power of locomotion ? Because the journal or balance wheel is 
heavier on one side than the other: or it is not balanced. When 
a wood turner puts a large stick into his lathe, and gives it a 
high motion, why does it sometimes tremble so that he cannot 
turn ? A]id after the same stick is turned ofif round, why does it 
run as still as a top ? Because, before it was turned off, one side 
was heavier than the opposite side; and every time the heavy 
side turned up, the momentum of the few ounces of wood that 
made it the heaviest caused the latter to tremble. Tlius it is with 
a cylinder of a thrashing machine; if it be well balanced, and only 
one spike be removed, it will tremble when running at au ordinary 
velocity. When one spike is removed from a cylinder, the 
opposite side is just one spike too heavy. 'Now, by giving this 
extra weight of one spike a high velocity, it has a momentum 
equal to a heavy body moving slowly, whose momentum would 
be sufficient to move the frame of the machine a little. Wheels 
frequently make machinery tremble to such a degree, that it is 
sometimes disagreeable, and even dangerous, to use them. 

199. I well remember, when a small lad, that my fatlier's 
thrashing machine trembled so violentlv, that it was difficult to 



100 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

• keep it in its place, even after tliey bad rolled a large bowlder, 
weighing some three or four Imndred pounds, on the top of it. A 
few spikes had been broken off one side; and no one present 
knew anything about balancing machinery, and had probably 
never heard of such a thing. When a cylinder of a thrashing 
machine is properly balanced, the frame will not tremble when 
it is running at a high velocity any more than when it is at rest. 
The same is true also of a circular saw journal, on which there is 
a balance wheel. 

PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OP HAVING MACHINERY WELL BALANCED. 

200. Some kinds of machinery will not operate well if it be 
not evenly balanced. This is particularly true of the upper mill 
stone, which runs on the point of a spindle. The stone must be 
w^ell balanced, or it will not grind evenly. When the journal of 
a cylinder, circular saw, or any other piece of machinery, is not 
evenly balanced, the bearings will wear all on one side; and there 
will not be friction enough on the opposite side to keep them 
bright. 

201. I remember examining the bearings of a cjiinder of 
an old thrashing machine which had run many years without 
being balanced; and the bearings were as round on one side as 
when they were first fitted up; while on the oppos'te side they 
were worn away nearly one-eighth of an inch, and the surface 
was not circular, but elliptical. The side that was worn was the 
heavy side; and at every revolution the greater momentum of 
the heavy side raised the bearings to the upper side of the boxes, 
so tjjat when the heavy side was uppermost the cylinder did not 
rest at all on the bearings. This caused the bearings to wear all 
on one side, and to run hard and roughly. Every wheel or 
journal that revolves faster than once each second should bo 
well balanced, not only for the purpose of having all the parts 
run as smoothly and still as possible, but that the bearings may 
wear on every side alike. 



THE YOUXG FA:IMER S MANUAL. 



101 



now TO BALANCE A JOURNAL. 




BALANCING A SHAFT. 



202. The accompaiiyiu.L^- illustration will furnish a correct idea 
of the means employed to balance the journal of a circular saw, 
and balance wheel or cylinder. 
Two steel squares, or iron squares 
with perfectly straight edges, are 
placed on two benches, for the 
bearings of the journal to rest on. 
The upper edges of the squares 
must be adjusted with a level, so 
that the journal will not roll either 
way when it is placed on them. 
If one side of the wheel or cylinder 
descends and oscillates, and at last 
comes to rest beneath the journal, 
it is the heaviest side, and must be 
made lighter; or the opposite side must be rendered heavier, 
which is done in various ways. 

203. Sometimes small flat knobs are cast on the inside of the 
rim of a wheel, so that a few ounces of iron may be cut off the 
heavy side of the rim. This is better than to remove a portion 
of the metal by drilling holes in the rim of the wheel, as that 
renders it liable to burst when running at a high velocity. 
Another common way is to fasten a small piece of lead to the 
light side of the wheel, until the journal will remain at rest wltli 
either side up. If the balance wheel is a plate wheel, drill a hole 
close to the rim on the lightest side, and put in a small bolt, 
and slip on small washers until the right weight is secured. 
Cast iron balance wheels are frequently turned off true in an en- 
gine lathe. Such wheels will run as smoothly as a top. Cylinders 
of thrashing macliines and power corn shellers are balanced by 
placing the bearings on the squares, as represented by the illus- 
trations, and boring holes in the wooden staves and pouring in 
lead. Or more spikes may be inserted. In balancing the cylin- 



102 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

der of a corn sheller, I once drove in nearly thirty spikes more 
on one side tlian the otlier, before it wonld Ijalance. 

204. In order to ascertain how much weight is required on 
the hght side of a cylinder, my practice was to tie on spikes or 
pieces of lead or nails, until the light side would balance the 
heavy side; and then secure the desired weight on the light 
side. It must be kept in mind that the bearings must be turned 
very true, and the edges of the squares must be very straight, or 
it will be in vain to balance a journal with any accuracy. After 
a journal has been balanced as well as it can be on the squares, 
it is put in its place in the machine, and driven at a very high 
motion, with the caps of the boxes left off, so that it can rise up 
and down as it runs, which it will do if it is not well balanced. 
Now, while it is running at a high motion, hold a piece of chalk 
about one fourth of an inch above the journal; and the heavy 
side will rise up and hit the chalk at every revolution. In tin's 
way the balancing of cylinders is finished, so that a machine will 
not tremble in the least. 

205. Mill stones are usually balanced by drilling four hoi es 
at equal distances from each other, near tlie outer edge of the 
stone; and as it rests on the point on which it revolves, small 
shot are dropped into the holes in the lightest side, until it will 
just balance. Another way is, to insert four iron bolts, say half 
an inch in diameter, in the periphery of the stone or wheel to be 
balanced. These bolts have a thread cut on them, and pass 
through a ball of iron, which is screwed outward or inward 
at pleasure. Thus the stone can be balanced with great accuracy. 
This is particularly interesting to farmers, as it discloses cer- 
tain important principles in the cor^struction and use of machinery. 
I think these few paragraphs will enable most farmers to balance 
any machinery that they are capable of running skillfully. 

206. In Yol. I., I referred to the subjects of fitting up and 
balancing machinery in this volume; and a certain editor took 
occasion to cast some reflections on such a branch of agriculture. 
But, as I now have the floor, it is proper for me to say that if 
be had worked by my side on a farm for nearly forty years, and 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 103 

made and handled as much machinery and implements as I have, 
and witnessed the disadvantages to practical farmers of not know- 
ing more about the machinery that they use, which I have seen 
and often felt, he would never have intimated that putting tools 
and implements in order is not very closely connected with 
** paying farming." A long experience justifies me in stating 
that, if a farmer does not know how to keep his machines in good 
running order, he will find it up hill business " to make farming 
pay." 

farmers' trinkets. 

** A pitchfork a dungfork, a sieve, skep, and bin; 
A broom, and a pail to put wat- r therein; 
A hand barrow, wheel-barrow, shovel and spa-^e, 
A cuiry-comb, mane-comb, and whip for a jade."— TUSSEB. 

20*7. Little things are often of vast importiv^ce; and this is 
particularly true with farmers. But, as a general thing, farmers 
are not more than half awake with reference to a multitude of 
things which have a great bearing on their interests; and there 
are scores of good farmers who do not avail themselves of the 
numerous little things within their reach, because they are not 
aware that there are such things or facilities in existence. 

208. A farmer's time is often equivalent to cash, and if it is not 
cash saved it is cash lost. When we have really commenced out- 
door operations in the field, an hour's hindrance may often be the 
cause of the actaal loss of several dollars, which might have been 
avoided by the possession of some little trinket or tool which 
does not cost one dime. 

BRACE AND BITS. 

209. Every farmer who has not a set of augers, brace and 
bits, should make up his mind to procure a set at once. Do not 
purchase one at a time, but go to the hardware store and make a 
good selection of a full set of auger bits, centre bits, rimmers, 
screw driver, nail bits, and gimlet bits. A good set can often be 
purchased for a few dollars. Such a set will soon pay for itself. 
If you feel too poor to expend such an amount of money at once 
tor tools, take that dime that you are about to spend for tobacco 



101 THE YOUNG farmer's mvnual. 

and purcluise a bit with it. A little bit, wortli nb vat one dime, 
has often saved a fai-mer two hours of his precious tune, and, 
doubtless, several dollars. 

CARRIAGE BOLTS. 

210. A great many very economical farmers go to the black- 
smith's shop and pay ten to fifteen cents for a little bolt, often 
not half as good as could be bought at hardware stores for two 
or three cents, simply because they do not know that there are 
such things in existence as carriage bolts. Probably at every 
hardware store in the country carriage bolts can be obtained of 
almost any desirable size and length, at so low a rate that one 
unaccustomed to them would think there must be some error in 
the price. They are usually made in a most neat and workman- 
like manner, with turned heads, and square near the head, to 
keep them from turning around, when the nuts are being put on, 
and with a far bettor thread and lit, of both bolts and burs, than 
most blacksmiths are capable of making. With us, carriage 
bolts five inches long are sold by the doz3n for thirty cents, and 
those eight inches long and half an inch square for six cents 
each. 

TIRE BOLTS. 

211. Tliese may be obtained of any desirable length and size 
amazingly cheap. Only tliink of neat little bolts, two inches 
long, with turned heads and a first rate thread and imts on them, 
for three-quarters of a cent apiece! How complete they are for 
rivets in almost any place, and how much better to bolt on our 
wagon tires with them than to spike them on. 

212. Carriage bolts and tire bolts come in play in a hundred 
instances, which I will not mention. When hanging doors with 
straj) hinges there is nothing better nor cheaper in the end to bolt 
on the straps with than carriage or tire bolts. When making or 
repairing any tool or farm implement, where rivets are necessary, 
they are infinitely superior to rivets, because thsy are cheaper in 
the outset, and can be put in in h'Ss time; and, when loo^o, cm 1)C 
drawn up much tighter than rivets. Somn fanners always want 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MAXUAL. 105 

a large rivet throiigli their barrow stiles. If tliey should be put 
in very tight, as soon as the timber shrinks a little, they are of no 
benefit at all. Bnt if such rivets were carriage bolts, they could 
be tightened, and keep the timbers from splitting. Always keep 
a good supply on hand. They seldom depreciate in value on a 
farm, 

PLOW BOLTS. 

213. Most of our plows are bolted together with bolts, having 
what is called counter-sunk hea^ds. Many of tiie bolts must, of 
necessity, have a left-handed thread or screw on tliem. This is 
particularly true of the bolts that hold the plow points. The 
lower side of the burrs will frequently hit the earth and stones 
beneath them; and, were the screw a right-handed one, the nut 
would unscrew. Such bolts, either right or left-handed threads, 
can be purchased for from two to three cents a piece, and a 
blacksmith would want twenty-five cents torn.akng a single one. 
Another kind of very useful trinkets is 

GIMLET-POINTED SCREWS. 

214. These, of almost any size and length, can be purchased 
by the dozen or gross, very cheap; and they are very useful in 
scores of instances where it would be very inconvenient and im- 
practicable to use nails. Not only those that are gimlet-pointed, 
but those having the patent thread — not the old-fashioned Y 
thread — are the best, as they v.ill hold better in wood. 

OTHER LARGE BOLTS. 

215. Farmers frequently have occasion to use long bolts, and 
much larger than carriage bolts. Now, in order to obtain good 
ones at the most reasonable rates, purchase blank nuts, which 
may be had at hardware stores of almost any size — four-square 
or six-square — and have one nut welded on the end of a rod of 
round iron for a head, and a thread cut in another for the other 
end. Blacksmiths usually make such nuts too thin, and, there- 
fore, they do not hold as well as they might. If a bolt is three- 
fourths of an inch in diameter, the burr, in order to be of cor- 



106 

responding strength, must be not less than three-fourths of an 
inch thick. The true rule for corresponding strength is, the nuts 
must be as thick as the bolts. In case a man should need a 
number of large bolt.^, the most economical way to get them is 
to procure the iron and have them forged out, and take them to 
some machine shop and have the threads cut in a lathe. The 
expense will be much less, providing you have it done by the 
hour, and they will be far superior than if the threads were cut 
by an ordinary blacksmith. For nuts on such large bolts, those 
intended for the arms of wagon axle-trees will subserve a good 
purpose. Intimately connected with bolts are 

COTTERELS — WASHERS. 

216. When these are purchased by the single ones they will 
cost from one to two cents a piece; but they should be bought 
by the pound or gross. These are very useful under the nuts, 
and sometimes beneath the heads of bolts, and can be obtained 
of almost any size at ten to twelve cents per pound. 

HOW TO MAKE WROUGHT NAILS. 

217. Wrought nails, proper, are usually manufactured of a 
very impro[)er form for most uses, being four-square and pointed 
— the very best form for splitting anything into which they may 
be driven, without first boring holes for them. In some cities 
cut-wrought nails can be obtained at the same price of common 
cut nails, made of the same form, so that they will not split 
everything into which they may be driven. 

218. When wrought nails are wanted, whether one-penny, 
three-penny, te'i-penny, or six-penny nails, put a quantity of them 
into the fire some evening, when there is fire enough to heat them 
to redness, and allow them to remain there until morning. By 
annealing the most brittle cut-nails in this way they may be 
rendered as tough as a piece of annealed wire. 

219. Cut-fence-nails will be much better after being aimealed 
— when they are not to be driven into hard wood — as they will 
not break so readily at every little thrust. For making any kind 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 107 

of implements, even when hai-d wood is used, the nails should be 
annealed, and holes bored for them, because a very little twisting 
and straining on cut nails will break them; whereas, if they are 
properly annealed, it is very diffioult to break them. If farmers 
would use annealed nails for making their bunks, racks, feeding- 
boxes, and troughs, instead of ordinary cut-nails, which will often 
fly into three pieces when struck with a hammer, they would soon 
be unwilling to use any others. 

LOTS OF LITTLE THNGS. 

220. T have thought best to enumerate many little articles 
that few farmers know are to be obtained at hardware stores, 
which are neatly made, and sold much cheaper than they can be 
made by hand. Among them are hooks and staples of various 
sizt's; rivets, large and small, long and short; brass and copper 
rivets, for uniting leather belts; belt hooks of various sizes; 
clout-wrought nails in papers, which are designed for nailing 
leather belts or canvass to machinery; trimming nails of various 
sizes and colors, and many other useful articles. 



108 THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAU 



CHAPTER II. 

SOILS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 

" Here, barren sands and granite rocks abound, 
There, slippery clay and marly beds are found. 
But where d rnie Nature with her skillful hand 
Has tempered well the surface of the land 
With sand and clay, and covered it with mold, 
There Cercs plants her grain like shining gold." — Edwards, 

221. Soils are strata of the earth, lying at or near its sur- 
face; and, when spoken of in general terms, they are all embraced 
in the expressions, soil and subsoil. 

222. The soil is sometimes very thin, not one inch in depth; 
and many times it is found to be several feet deep. The subsoil 
is the stratum of earth on which the soil rests, and will be found 
of different depths, different color, and different in every respect 
in different localities. And the subsoil is frequently as different 
in every respect from the soil that lies above it, as the soil of a 
given locality differs from that in any other locality. 

223. Some writers have fallen into the error when writing 
about soils, of limiting the soil to that depth which is pulverized 
with tools and implements. But that earth which has been 
si)aded or i)ulverized w th plows one or more feet deep, cannot be 
properly called soil, unless it has been at some time exposed to 
the combined action of rains, frosts, heat, vegetation, and thus 
prcpnred by the action of those powerful elements of nature for 
piuducing crops. Farmers should bear in mind the proper dis- 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 109 

tinction between soil, subsoil and earlh. Earth may be takea 
from a thousand feet beneath the soil, in vvliich seeds will vege- 
tate; and the plants may come to maturity. But that earth 
cannot be properly denominated soil or subsoil. It is simply 
mrtk — barren earth or fertile earth. 

HOW SOILS ARE FORMED. 

224, The time has been when all soils and subsoils were in a 
state of rock; or, in other words, soils have been formed of stones 
on the earth's surface. We can perceive all around ns the 
operations of nature's laws, changing and transforming material 
substances into a multitude o.- new forms. The intense cold of 
winter, the scorching sunshine of summer, the gentle rain and dew, 
and the growth and decay of plants, all exert more or less in- 
fluence in the formation of soils. But when we reflect for a mo- 
ment what a powerful agent electricity is to divide, subdivide and 
to shatter to atoms infinitely small the hardest and the knot- 
tiest substances in nature; when we consider that electricity per- 
vades the entire globe on which we dwell, from its centre to its 
utmost circumference; when we contemplate the vast and un- 
limited power that was once in operation to heave up to moun- 
tain height large tracts of country, all of solid rock, as we may 
witness all over the Eastern as well as the Western Continent; and 
when we contemplate the grand and awfully sublime spectacle of 
vast strata of solid rocks broken up and put in motion, crushing, 
grinding and reducing each other to atoms, it requires no very 
great stretch of imagination to understand how soils have been 
formed. 

225. The best geologists tell us, that " soils have been formed 
by the wear and tear — the disintegration and decomposition of 
rocks." In other language, the rocks have fallen to pieces, and 
have been dissolved by the united action of rain, frost and heat ; 
and thus the particles have been reduced so small, that the smallest 
roots of plants will absorb and appropriate the soluble portions 
to the purpose of forming plants. A very good illustration of 
the formation of soils is given in the preparation of gypia.n as a 



110 THE YOUNV, FAR'.IER'S JIANUAL. 

fertilizer for crops. (See Gyp;nm in the Chapter on Manures.) 
The rock is first reduced by mechanical means — by hammers and 
mill stones — to a very fine powder. Then, after it has been 
re(hiced as fine as practicable by mechanical means, it is sowed 
over the soil, where it is reduced to particles still smaller, by 
chemical myid^m — by being dissolved; and then entering into the 
formation of plants. Thus it has been with those rocks of which 
the soil was formed. They have been torn from the vast 
quarries, as if charges of powder had been deposited at short 
distances apart throughout the entire quarry, and exploded 
at one touch of the torch, and afterwards put in motion; and by 
crushing and grinding, and smashing along, they have been re- 
duced to a fine powder, which powder has been reduced still finer 
by chemical means — by cold, heat, wet and dry, and vegetation, 
all combined — by the formation of plants, and by their decay, 
and mingling with the earth on the surface of the earth. 

DIFFERENCE IN SOILS 

226. From these considerations the young farmer will readily 
perceive that different kinds of soil have been formed by different 
kinds of rock. When wells are dug, or when other excavations 
are made in the earth, strata of earth and small stones will be 
dug through ; and one can perceive with the naked eye that the 
earth which surrounds the stones has been formed of just such 
stones as are still remaining. And, more than this, the stones 
that remain present the same appearance that stones of all sizes 
would, after they had been rolled and tumbled for a long period 
of time in a vast tumbling drum, until most ^A them had been 
reduced to powder. 

227. Every observing man can call to mind instances where 
he has seen large stones — 3ven after they have been placed in a 
wall of some building — all falling to line atoms, thus forming 
Eoil. The stones and gravel in our cultivated holds are annually 
being dissolved by the action of the elements, by the wear and 
tear and grinding of tools and implements, when they are plowed 
and h'vrrowed, which often amounts to more than as much as is 



THE YOUNG FAmiER's MAtfUAL. HI 

usually applied in a top dressing of gypsum. All of these agencies, 
in connection with the decomposing of vegetation, constitute the 
great means of forming soils, and of keeping them in a fertile 
and productive condition. And out of these raw materials the 
farmer is required to produce subsistence for himself as well as 
for his domestic animals. Therefore the great and leading 
idea will be, not only to produce a subsistence from tlie soil, and 
leave it, when we are done with earth, as good as we found it, 
but to manage it in such a manner that it will sustain us and 
our cotemporaries; and come into the possession of our successors 
twice as productive as it was when we received it. 

SOILS STILL FARTHER DEFINED. 

228. A very practical writer in the Mark Lane Express says: 
*'Soil means the surface land that is used for the purpose of cul- 
tivation, and producing crops from the seeds that are deposited 
in its matrix. The nature of the subsoil, or under-stratum, is, in 
many cases, of very considerable moment in the fertility of the 
land that lies upon it — if it be wet or dry, porous or compact. 
And then the climate or external influences to whi oil the vege- 
tables of the crop are exposed in the growing and maturing con- 
dition; and, lastly, the capacity of the soil for imbibing and 
retaining moisture and caloric. Soils are very largely varied in 
the composition, but mostly derived from the decompositions of 
the rock on which they repose. There are several extraneous 
bodies intermingled with the soil which have been produced and 
located by unknown causes; and there are vast depositions of im- 
ported debris lying between the rocks and the soil which seem to 
destroy the direct connection between the parents and the progeny. 
This interposition is mostly local, and may be reckoned a diluvium 
from peculiar causes, and in a certain position. Soil is the suj)- 
port of vegetation, and the reservoir of receiving and communi- 
cating nourishment. This power is large or small, according to 
the composition of the soil in the natural ingredients an I the 
mixture of the substances. The chief substances in soils are clay, 
sand, Ume, animal and vegetable matters, some oxide of iron, ani* 



113 THE YOU:^G FARAr^.R*S MANUAL. 

occasionally certain saline conipoiiad.^. The three in-i^rjdients of 
clay, sand and lime are the principal constituents of soils, alon^^ 
with the valuable addition of aninixl and vei^etable matters, now 
called himms. (See Ilnmus in Chapter on Minures.) The mat- 
ters which constitute soils are of a compound nature, and operate 
as sucli in the formation of them. There are few, if any, sub, 
stanches in nature which after being exposed to and acted upon 
by the atmosphere and other agents are not capable of affording 
support to some kind of vegetables, though there is a very great 
variety in this respect among earthy matters. Some mitterg 
are quickly converted into the proper nourishment of vegetation; 
while others require a long time in being assimilated into a ma- 
terial for sustaining any kind of vegetable life. 

HOW SOILS ARE DISTINGUISHED. 

229. Soils are distinguished in general terms as light and 
heavy. The light soils are those that are composed of light 
materials, for the most part such as humus or vegetable mold, 
with a limited proportion of clay or sand, or both. Heavy soils 
are distinguished from light ones by being composed in a large 
proportion of clay. ''Then we speak of fertile soil, and barren 
soils, of wet and dry soils; of rocky and mucky soils; of clayey, cal- 
careous, argillaceous, aluminous and gravelly clay; of loamy, 
sandy loam, gravelly loam, and clayey loam. Besides these, there 
are many soils that cannot properly be called by either of the 
foregoing terms; but may be spoken of as a mixtiure of various 
kinds of soil 

230. Every intelligent farmer knows what clay is, and what 
sand, gravel and vegetable mold is. Now, all soils are com- 
posed of these substances; and when any one or two of them 
predominates in a soil, that soil may be distinguished by those kinds 
of earth. For example: when a soil is composed mostly of heavy, 
slippery clay, we call it a stiflf clay; although a soil of pure clay 
is never met with. When there is a good proportion of loam 
among the clay, it may properly be denominated a clay loam. 
When there is a good portion of gravel among the clay, we de- 



113 

sign ate it as gravelly clay. When a portion of the clay soil hag 
been formed by the dishitcgration of limsstone, we call it a cal- 
careous clay. 

231. A sandy soil is one in which there is more sand than 
anything else. But when there is a good proportion of loam 
among the sand, we call it a sandy IocvM. Sand and clay 
form loam. Hence loamy soils contain from thirty to sixty 
parts in one hundred of sand. From loam we branch off to 
clayey loam and gravelly loam. In addition to these kinds of 
soil, tiiere is an infinite variety of soils in which vegetable mould 
predominates, which cannot be classed with the sandy, loamy, or 
clayey 'Soils. There are thousands of acres, a large portion of 
the soil of which has been formed of limestone, that are called cal- 
careous clays, calcareous loam, or calcareous sand. 

232. Alkivial soils are such as have been deposited by the 
action of streams of water; and they may be as varied in their 
composition as any other variety of soil. But, as a general rule, 
there is a large proportion of vegetable and mineral matter mingled 
with them, which renders them very productive. 

FOKMATION OF PRAIRIE SOILS. 

233. The soils found on our prairies in the western part of 
our country are quite different from all others that have been 
mentioned, on account of the peculiar manner in which they have 
been formed. For ages past the large crops of prairie grass have 
been allowed to decay where it grew ; and, in many instances, 
fire has swept over most territories, and reduced the dry vegeta- 
tion to ashes. And as the roots have brought up the soil, and 
it has been formed into plants, and then burned to ashes, a soil 
of a very peculiar character has been formed, which abounds 
richly in materials for producing large crops of all kinds of cereal 
grain as well as grass, and anything else that farmers desire to 
cultivate. Such soils may properly be denominated vegetable 
soils. I might pen page after page concerning soils, which 
would be of interest to read. But, as most farmers want only a 
few practical and tangible thoughts on this subject, I have 



114 THE younpt farmer's manual. 

thonglit it best to write briefly. Most farmers are more inter- 
ested in cultivating their own soils well than they are in direc- 
tions for cultivating soils of a different character in another part 
of the world. (See Allen's American Farm Book.) 

CHEMICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 

234. The editor of the Mark-Lane Express says: The best 
classification of soils is a chemical classification, founded on their 
composition, accor.ling to the proportion of sand separable by 
washing; it divides them into sands, s.xndy loams, loams, clay 
loams, and clays. It subdivides those again into fine and coarse 
sands and sandy loams, according to the size of the particles of 
sand, and into gravelly sands, loams and clays, according to the 
proportion of pebbles or fragments of rocks. The proportion of 
calcareous matter indicates whether they are to be called marly 
or calcareous sands, loams, and clays; while, if they contain a 
certain proportion of vegetable matter, they are called vegetable 
soils. Each name should express some defined proportion of 
sand separable by washing, and of calcareous or vegetable matter. 
In such a classification as we advocate, we should have: 1. 
Silicious soils, containing from 90 to 95 per cont. of sand. These 
would be divided, on the same principle, into blowing sand, coarse 
sand, good agricultural sand, and calcareous sand. 2. Loaviy 
soils, 70 to 90 per cent, of sand separable by washing, subdivided 
into coarse sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, rich loam, and 
calcareous loam. 3. Clayey soils, with 40 to 10 per cent, of 
sand, divided into clay loam, clay, and calcareous clay Each of 
these soils, termed calcareous sand, calcareous loam, &c., contain 
five per cent. of lime. Marly soils constitute a fourth group, in 
which the proportion of lime ranges between 5 and 20 per cent., 
and are divided into sandy marls, loamy marls, and cl .yey marls. 
Calcareous soils contain more than 20 per cent, of lime. They 
are divided into sandy calcareous, loamy calcareous, and clayey 
calcareous ; while in calcareous sands, clays, a-'d loams, the 
proportion of lime does not exceed 5 per cent. The difference of 
compositiou denoted by diffjrence of name is similar to the 



rriE YOUNG farmer's manual. 115 

sulp^atos and sulphites of chemical nom9nclatiU'e, which contain 
different proportions of sulphuric acid. According to the q lantity 
of pebble fragmonts yielded by a square yard, or by a cubic foot 
of the soil, they might be denominated gravels or grivelly sand, 
loams, and clays. Vcgztahk soils vary from the com non garden 
mould, which contains from 5 to 10 per cent, of vegetable mitte", 
to the peaty soil^ in which the organic matter is about 60 to TO 
per cent. They will be vegetable sands, loams, clays, marls , txc. 
Considered geologically, soils may be classed in three groups: 
1. Local soils, or those derived exclusively from the debris of the 
rock on which they rest, unmixed with the materials of other 
rocks. 2. Erratic soils, containing the mixed materials of 
several, and, in many cases, distinct formations, transported by 
currents of water which, at the close of what is called the tertiary 
period of geology, acted irrespectively of the present lines of 
drainage and sea levels. 3. Alluvial soils, composed of finely 
divided matter, transported and deposited by rivers and tidal 
current.^, in subordination to the existing levels and lines of 
drainage. 

CLAY AND CLAY SOILS. 

235, " Clay is a viscous earth of marine or fresh-water origin, 
ductile and plastic, capable of retaining the moulded forms; 
imbib.'s fifteen times its own weight of water without dropping, 
and retains it with great obstinacy. A very considerable quantity 
of clay is necessary in the composition of soils; it is the basis of 
all good lands; there cannot be a rich-bearing earth without some 
clay; conveying a vast chemical superiority, though with a 
mechanical disadvantage. Clay is required to imbibe and retain 
moisture, and its value depends on the quantity in the soil. An 
excess of clay produces a starved barrenness from too much 
moisture: the want of it forms weak lands, dry, and barren." 
Chiy is an earth, the base of which is alumina; and alumina con- 
sists of the mttal known as aluminum united with oxygen. Clay 
may be further define 1 as a heavy, soft, and slippery earth when 
wet; and when dry, compact, brittle, and hard. Pure clny is 
said to be white. But it is rarely found in its pure state. It is 



116 THE YOUNG FATIMEr's MANUAL. 

almost always ming-lcd with other sul)stanc8s, wliich rnorllfy its 
color as well as its texture or solidity. We frequently see al- 
lusions made to ahiminous clay and aluminous earth, which means 
almost pure clay. Then we have silicious earth o/ clay, in which 
there is a good proportion of silica or flint, sand and quartz. 
Other writers allude to argillaceous earth or soil, to denote that 
the purest kind of clay predominates. In many local'ties the clay 
is properly of a calcareous nature — called a calcareous clay — 
which signifies that there is a large proportion of lime in the soil. 
Then we have what may be termed a ealcareo-argillaceous soil, 
which contain a good portion of calcium and argil, or aluminum. 
Clay is sometimes almost red, which is colored by the iron in it. 
Ot.her foreign substances give diTerent colors to clay, imparting 
sometimes a bluish, and sometimes a brown tint. Almost all soils 
contain more or less clay, although in some the amount of clay is 
so small that it may be said to contain no clay at all. 

236. One of the great e:_celleucies of clay soils is, the capacity 
and power of retaining fertilizing matter for promoting the 
growth of plants when there is not an excess of water. When 
clay soils are wet they will retain such substance"; as well as when 
dry ; but an excess of water will render the soil so very compact 
that the roots of plants cannot avail themselves of the food tiiat 
exists in abundance throughout tHe entire soil. When the pores 
of the soil are filled with standing water none but .the roots of 
aquatic plants will grow in it. And even then, unless the soil 
be kept constantly wet, such roots will die when the clay comes 
to dry and shrink and crack under the influence of the sun. 

PREPARATION OF CLAY FOU TOP DRESSIXG. 

237. If we dig up clay in chunks that has never been ex- 
posed to the alternate influences of freezing and thawing, and 
drenching rains, and scorching sunshine, and place it where it can 
freeze and thaw a few times during the winter, instead of remain- 
ing in heavy, soggy, melastic masses, it will crumble to fine 
powder, wiiich may be shoveled over or spread around with com- 
parative ease, ^'ow, in using clay as a top dressing, or in ming- 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. lit 

lino^ it with sandy soils, the great idea is to save hard labor, and 
to derive as much benefit as may be practicable from the clay the 
first season it is applied to the soil. If it is to be mingled with 
a sandy soil after it has been hauled half a mile or more, which 
may be done in some States during the winter months, let it be 
spread on the soil where it is needed, whether meadow or plow 
land, and in the spring all the compact chunks will be reduced to 
a fine powder, which may be spread evenly o^er the surface But 
if tlie clay is to be used as a top dressino; foi- hoed crops, it should 
1)0 drawn at the fornior part of winter near the place where it is 
to be used, and spread on a smooth plot of dry ground, about 
eight or ten inches deep, and about ten or twelve feet in width, 
and then a temporary shed of boards erected over it to carry off 
the rain. Should it all thaw out during the winter, let the 
boards be removed, and let the whole of it be plowed over, cutting 
very narrow furrow slices, and covered up again to keep off the 
rain. By keeping off the rain, and by plowing it ever several 
times, it will be so mellow and fine by the time it should be ap- 
plied to the growing crops that it can be shoveled and spread 
with comparatively little labor. On deep mucky soils a top 
dressing of clay will produca heavier grass than a dressing of 
barnyard manure. And on veyy porous sandy or gravelly soils 
a small shovelful of pulverized clay to a hill of potatoes or Indian 
corn would produce more grain than a dressing of most of the 
kinds of fertilizers sold in manure markets. 

nUAJUS IN SOILS. 

238. That portion of a soil which we scientifically denom'.nte 
humus is the same substance that farmers ordinarily call moiUd, 
comprehending the organic matter in all soils which has been 
formed by the decay of vegetation and animal substances at any 
previous p3riod of time. In some soils it is found in great abund- 
ance, and in many others it appears in only limited quantities. 
It constitutes the greatest source of fertility in every soil, as is 
alMindantly proved from the fact, that when no humus is to bo 
found in a soil it will be as unproductive for cereal grain as cold, 



118 

Rogp^j, calcareous clay, or barren sand Scientific writers call it by 
various names, such as liuraic acid, hurain, liumic extract, and the 
decayed carbon of acideous residue of plants and animal substances. 
Ilumus exists in as many different forms as carbon. Chemists 
tell us tliat the diamond — " more precious than silver or gold" — • 
and black charcoal are composed of pure carbon. But how 
vastly different their appearance I Humus is also called vegetable 
matter in a state of decay. Peat and turf, when they are in a 
state of decay, are sometimes called iiieri humus. Although a 
certain amount of humus is essential to render a soil productive, 
still where it exists too abundantly it operates as a source of 
i7ifertility rather than of fertility. Farmers may readily recognise 
humus when they meet with it in their fields. On new lands just 
cleared of the forest, decayed brush, leaves, rotten wood, which 
has crumbled to a black mold, and the thin super -stratum of 
black earth on the surface of any compact soil is humus. 

THE OPERATION OF IIUMUS. 

239. The influence which humus exerts on vegetation is a 
tv/o-fold one — mechanical and chemical. When it is mingled with 
a clay soil it renders it porous, light, friable, warm, and easily 
worked. It keeps the soil from running together like mortar, as 
it allows the water to percolate through it quickly, and it prevents 
its baking, in hot weather, by conducting off the water quickly 
and keeping it porous for the admission of air. This is the me- 
chanical influence. 

240. The chcmic%l influence may be thus explained. Chemists 
tell us that it absorbs nitrogen from the atmosphere during its 
decay, which is almost constantly going on, and thus becomes 
converted into ammonia and nitric acid, which are excellent sub. 
stances in promoting the growth of vegetation. It also forms 
carbonic acid, which is the very life of all our cultivated i)lants. 
Tiiese are chemical influences. (See this subject elucidated under 
the head of Mechanical and Chemical, Chapter I.) These sub- 
stances unite with others in the soil; and thu^., by farther 
chemical changes and influences, excellent food is formed for the 



119 

roots of growin,<^ plants. The organic matter (humus), when 
formed in wet places, constitutes muck and peat, which are not 
fertile; but as it occurs in arable soils, in quantities usually not 
exceeding 3 to 10 per cent., it is of great value, not only on ac- 
count of its power of absorbing water, but also from the fact, 
that in its decay it is a continuous source of carbonic acid and 
ammon'a, thus satisfying, to some extent, one condition of rapid 
growth already insisted upon, viz.: supplies of atmospheric plant- 
food by the soil. The carbonic acid formed ia the soil by the slow 
oxidation of humus acts also according to the amount of its pro- 
duction in the chemical disintegration of the insoluble parts of 
the soil, and thus indirectly furnishes to the plant increased quan- 
tities of ash-ingredients,' 

SAND AND SANDY SOILS. 

241. Sand is the particled granulation of rocky substances 
that have been reduced by the action of water, and have been 
carried about and located by the aqueous agitations. The 
quartzy and silicious formation prevents any cohesion of sand, 
which is loose and incoherent; and when dried, it is blown by the 
wind. It possesses not any fertility, but it is u^^fully mixed with 
other substances, and, in the proper quantity, promotes the open- 
ness of soils that is necessary to fertility. Sand varies in color 
about as much as clay, and its excellence for agricultural pur- 
poses differs about as widely as the excellence of clayed soils in 
their great variety. If we wash a handful of sand, and examine 
it with a microscope, it appears more like a heap of sharp-cornered, 
rough-looking bov/lders than anything else. The fertility of sandy 
soils arises, for the most part, from the mechanical influence which 
the sand exerts in promoting vegetable growth; and the great 
excellence and efficacy arising from the sand in clayey soils con- 
sists in its rendering the clay more porous, so that the numerous 
roots of plants may spread very readily through the soil. The 
sand does not supply nourishment, except in a very limited de- 
gree. The little roots find their way through the soil, where 
there is a good proportion of sand, about as readily as insects. — 



120 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

worms and bugs — crawl downward through heaps of small 
stone. 

242. Every intelligent farmer knows what quartz and flint 
stone is. Sand is formed from this hard and flinty rock. Sand 
is not formed of slate, or hornstone, or limestone. Sand furnishes 
material for growing plants that gives stiffness to the stems. For 
this reason cereal grain, that grows on sandy soils, always keeps 
erect much better than when it grows on mucky soils, where 
there is a deficiency of silex, or silica, for imparting stiff.icss to 
the stems. The Gomsee Farmer s^^ys: "The immediate eflfjct of 
sand applied to clay is to make it into a more adhesive mortar; 
and anthracite coal ashes, unless in large proportion, will have 
the same indurating effect; but if coarse vegetable or stall 
manure, or a stiff clover sod is applied with the sand, and both 
are plowed in, in the fall, so that the frosts of winter can act oa 
tlie furrows, then a thorough amelioration takes place, and you 
have the next season a friable soil of great fertility, capable, with 
subsequent good tillage, of standing both wet and drought. But 
to keep up this condition of the soil, it must be well underdrained, 
and an occasional rotation of a clover crop, with the sod and a 
little manure plowed in, must not be omitted. The action of 
frost on clay is allied to that of burning the clay; the aluminous 
base of clay seems to lose its strong adhesiveness by burning, 
and the finely comminuted sand that is precipitated is identical, 
apparently, with the fine sand of the richest river bottoms, which, 
it has been said, cannot be worn out by ordinary cropping. At 
any rate, such a soil is more capable of holding water by absorp- 
tion, and decomposed organic matter by chemical attraction, 
than by any other equally absorptive soil. 

THE FERTILITY OF SOILS. 

243. The question is often asked on what the fertiUty of 
super-soil and subsoil depends ? And it has puzzled a great 
many wise heads to give a correct answer to such a simple inter- 
rogation. Soils from different parts of the country have been 
carefully analyzed, and the analyses have turned out to be exactly 



THE YOUNTx FAR?.IEr's MAN'UAL. 121 

alike. But in productiveness, one was called a harren soil, and 
the other a ^productive one. AVriters have theorized and philoso- 
phised about it, and penned elaborate essays in giving the true 
answer to this simple question, which may be answered correctly, 
scientifically, and practically in only a few words, which are — 
the fertility of the soil depends or. the amount of available nourish- 
ment ivhich it contains. This comprehends it all. 

244. A man may understand correctly what ingredients are 
necessary to constitute a fertile soil, and he may determine 
whether those ingredients are to be found in the soil, or whether 
t'ney must be supplied. Cut, after all that is said and done, if 
those ingredients are not in an available form for promoting the 
growth of plants the soil cannot be called a fertile one. Some 
writers have supposed that wheu one soil was barren, and another 
exactly like it in its chemical composition was very fertile, its 
fertility must be traced to the exceeding fineness of the particles 
in the fertile soil, and to their coarseness in the barren soil. This 
is correct so far as it goes. Of course the nourishment in the 
very coarse particles of earth is not available by the roots of 
plants. And it might not be anymore available were it reduced, 
by mechanical means, to a very fine, impalpable powder. Before 
substances can be ava 1 .ble by the roots of plants, they must be 
reduced to a liquid or fluid state, and even after they have been 
changed to a liquid state, they may still not be in an available 
condition for promoting the growth of plants. All vegetable 
nourishment, whether it is in the soil or in the atmosphere, must, 
necessarily, be in such a liquid or fluid state that the roots and 
leaves of plants will taka it up. Plants never take up solid ma- 
terials, and they will never absorb liquids and fluids, w/ien they 
are in a certain condition, any more than they will absorb solid 
substances. 

ERRORS IN CULTIVATING SUBSOILS. 

245. The subsoil or under-stratum which supports the cul- 
tivable layer, if it be earthy or rocky, compact or porous, in- 
fluences the productiveness of soils. A sandy soil may owe its 

6 



122 THF! VOUNPr farrier's ^rAXt^AL. 

fertility to the power of the subsoil to retain water; and a wet, 
clayey soil may be much benefitted by a subsoil of porous sand 
or gravel. It is well known that soils, when only a few inches in 
depth, and on beds of cold, wet clay, rock, or chalk, are by no 
means so fruitful and productive as those which are deeper, 
though of inferior quality, but resting on a bottom which is dry 
and gravelly. The difference of weight and tenacity in the un- 
derstrata of soils likewise introduces great variety in regard to 
their powers of raising and rearing vegetable productions in tlie 
way of crops upon the n. As farmor.'^!, generally, have not made 
themselves familiar with different kinds of soil and subsoil, we 
have too often seen them experimenting with subsoils at a very 
costly rate. One farmer, whose soil was very deep, has run his 
plow deep, and turned up three or four inches of new earth, which 
he called subsoil, which has increased his crops more than double 
the usual amount. Another, whose soil was very thin, contain- 
ing only a small proportion of mould, and resting on a stubborn 
and compact subsoil, has turned all the mould that has been 
slowly accumulating for ages past, eight or ten inches below the 
surface, and brought up several inches in depth of this cold, un- 
friable, unfertile subsoil, with the expectation that this soil 
would produce a v3ry bountiful crop, when, to his great disap- 
pointment, he finds that the productiveness of his soil is ma- 
te-rially injured for many years to come. Many farmers, in dif- 
ferent parts of the country, who were ignorant of the character 
of their subsoil, have plowed deep in the spring for a crop of 
Indian corn; and as the subsoil was often wet, cold, and barren, 
not half a crop was raised. Therefore, by not understanding 
how soils are formed; how long time is required to make a pro- 
ductive soil out of Uie materials that are near the surface of tbe 
earth; and by not understanding wherein consists the source of 
fertility of all soils, deep plowing and deep cultivation have b?en 
condemned; scientific agriculture has been denounced ; and " Book 
Farming has been blown higher than Dr. Franklin's Kite," 
simply because deep plowing — turning up the unfertile subsoil — 
proved an injury rather than an advantage. 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 123 



SUBSOILS— THEIR CHARACTER. 



246. We have seen in a previous paragraph what constitutes 
the subsoil. Now the great idea above all others is to be able 
to manage them in the best and most profitable manner. Subsoils 
are almost as various as soils. But we shall distinguish them as 
compact and porous, barren and fertile. The most fertile and 
productive soils can be made of subsoils by proper management. 
But it cannot be done in one year, nor in ten years. Some kinds 
of subsoil may be changed into good soil in a short time, and at 
a comparatively small expense, while other kinds will require 
peculiar treatment for many successive years. There may be a 
great abundance of the elements of fertility in a certain subsoil, 
but if those elements be not in a condition to promote the growth 
of plants they will be but little better, for the purposes of vege- 
tation, than sawdust and charcoal are for nourishing animals, 
notwithstanding those substances are composed, in a great degree, 
of carbon, oxygen, and other substances, that form the very best 
of nourishment. 

247. The subsoil of the farm that I formerly owned was as 
variable as the many different mixtures of the soil. In some fields, 
where underdrains were cut three feet deep, the subsoil would 
consist of a light-colored gravelly and clayey loam, which would 
produce as good turnips or cereal grain the first season that it 
was thrown to the surface, as the soil. On the other parts of 
the farm the subsoil, only ten inches below the surface of the 
ground, would be stubborn, lumpy, destitute of friability and bar- 
ren, and would have to be manured, clovered, plowed in the fall, 
and the lumps crushed with a roller, year after year, before it 
could be brought into a moderately good state of fertility. And 
these are common characteristics of different subsoils all over the 
United States. And the true way for every farmer in managing 
them is, to test their fertility to a limited extent in every field 
before he plo\vs very much of it to the surface of the ground. 
(Read the 111 P]flfects of Deep Plowing in the next Chapter.) 



124 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 



now SUBSOILS SHOULD BE CULTIVATED. 

248. We have seen, in a previous paragraph, that all ^ood 
soils must contain a good proportion of vegetable matter. Xow, 
if there be but a thin super-soil, and only a limited amount of 
mould m it, only one inch or two in depth of that subsoil sliould bo 
turned up on the surface. And whatever may be the character 
of the subsoil respecting its fertility, it should not be turned up 
in the spring of the year. (See Fall Plowing in next Chapter.) 
The true place for all kinds of subsoil — except in certain in- 
stances where the soil is of a peculiar character — Is beneath the 
surface soil. Tiiere are thousands of acres of the very choicest 
quality of wheat land in New York and other States where the 
soil should never be inverted more than four or live inches deep. 
The subsoil should be loosened with a subsoil plow, and be kept 
below the soil. Oa the slopes of most of our lakes, where the 
soil contains but little vegetable matter, deep plowing would be 
the very worst system of cultivation that could be adopted. 
After a furrow has been turned with the common plow, the more 
thoroughly the subsoil can be mellowed up with a subsoil })low 
— (See Cut of Subsoil Plow in the Chapter on Plowing) — the 
more complete and scientilic will be the system of cultivation, 
and the more abundant will the crops be on such a soil. 

249. I advocate deep cultivation and deep plowing. And 
the deeper one can plow the better it will be for the soil as well 
as the cro})s. But every farmer should be exceedingly careful 
not to turn up too much of the subsoil to the surface unless there 
is too large a proportion of vegetable matter in the soil. The 
aim should always be, as far as may be practicable, to keep the 
mould on or near the surface of the ground. Let not the reader 
misunderstand me on this subject. I repeat the thought to plow 
deeply; and, at the same time, I reiterate the caution that where 
a soil has but little mould on the surface the plowing must be 
done by simply plowing only a few inches deep with a connnon 
plow, and then {"oilowing with a subsoil plow. (See this eluci- 
dated hereafter iu Parngrapli •2")0.) 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 125 



KEZiLP THE BEST SOIL ON THE SURFACE. 

250. In Europe, on irany of the most productive farms iu the 
country, tenants arc bound in written contract " not to plow up 
any meadows." And why? The theory is, "if old meadows 
are bnken uj), tlie decay of the sod will yield several largecrops 
of cerciil grain or grass. But, after it has been seeded down 
again, the grass crop will continne to diminish for a number of 
years, until a coat of carbonaceous matter or mould has lieen 
formod on the surface, when it will again increase in productive- 
ness." Where land is cultivated in this manner without supplv - 
ing an equivalent amount of fertility, it deteriorates in value, and 
requires time to restore its original condition. If grass land is 
plowed for grain, its fertility must be maintained. Every farmer 
knows that one of the first requisites is, there should be on the 
surface of the soil a stratum of carbonaceous matter, or what is 
colloquially tovniGd mould. This will aid, facilitate and promote 
the quick germination and rapid growth of seed and tubers.' 
Then, if the soil beneath this mould abounds in manurial sub. 
stances, such as roots of plants will appreciate in the production 
of various kinds of crops, and has been prepared by seme me- 
chanical means — or made mellow — ^for the easy ramification of 
the roots, we have a soil in the most excellent condition for pro- 
ducing any kind of crops to which it may be adapted. 

251. When a soil is not excessively wet, ror too dry, the 
roots of any kind of plants that take up the most nourishment 
arc those which are nearest the surface of the soil. It appears 
always to be an essential consideration in vegetable physiology, 
that the surface of the soil should be covered with a little mould 
in order to aid the growth of plants. When we go into woods, 
for example, where the soil is covered with a thin stratum of 
mould, we see the entire surface occupied with young plants 
early in the spring of the year, which would never have vege- 
tated if they had not been in such a favorable place. So it is 
in the cultivated field. If all the mould on the surface of soTne 
linds (f soil — not of every soil — be turned beneath the surface 



120 THE YOUXO farmer's MANUAL. 

?ev(.'rni inchc?:, and the compact moiildless soil or subsoil be 
brought to the surface, every good farmer need not be told how 
difiBcult it is to get a good sod formed ou the surface; and also 
how much more liable winter grain is to be lifted out by the 
freezing and thawing of winter. 

252. When planting Indian corn, we all know how import- 
ant it is to have a few inches of mould on the surface, in order 
to give the young plants a "good start." So it is, also, when 
raising turnips, carrots, parsnips, and anything else that springs 
froni very small seed. The surface of the soil lying in con- 
tact with the air, if rich and finely pulverized, aids germination 
very much. The operations of Nature in the forests, around 
oil stumps, and along decaying logs and fences where seeds ger- 
minate; vegetable physiology, sound philosophy and the best 
practice of the best farmers all combined, coincide and unite in 
this one consideration, that it is the best system of cultivating 
the soil, for any kind of crops — grass not excepted — to keep the 
'best soil and a little mould on the surface, as much as may be 
practicable. 

MATNTAINIXG THE FERTILITY OF SOILS. 

253. Mr. John Johnson, Geneva, New York, in answer to 
some inquiries, in the Country Gentleman, with reference to 
his manner of maintaining the fertility of his soils without resort- 
m<^ to foreign manure, replied : " There is no diffictilty in doing 
that on all our clay subsoils in this part of the state. In the first 
place you must feed your stock well all the year, and keep them im- 
proving both in summer and in winter. Keep them in yards 
from the time the pasture woii'tafiford them a sufficiency in autumn 
until there is pasture enough in spring to support them fully. 
Then apply the manure made in winter, and take care not to over- 
stock your pasture land in summer, as by so doing you are not 
improving nor resting your land by letting it lay in grass, if it is 
all eaten off as fast as it grows. Let the land be covered with 
grass or clover, and it is getting fat daily; and so will the stock. 
I also have sown one bushel of gypsum to the acre, on all my 



THE YOrXG FARMKr's MANUAL. 127 

meadows and pasture land ever since I commenced farming here. 
By rig-idly following up the foregoing system, my farm has be« 
come far more productive now than it was thirty-five years ago, 
producing double the quantity of hay and pasture and corn or 
oats, and the wheat crop is also more productive. If we had 
dry summers, wheat would stand much higher manuring, but we 
do not know what the summer is to be until it is past; therefore 
it is safest to manure only moderately for wheat. For corn or 
grass I have never reached the point vrhere I thought too much 
was applied. This buying of dung at city prices may pay, and I 
suppose does, to raise vegetables for New York or other largo 
cities, but I cannot believe that it can pay to raise grain or grass. 
It is something like a farmer buying his bread and meat. I know 
that every farmer can, in this part of the country, make manure 
enough to keep up the fertility of his farm with stock and clover 
if he tries to do it. I have kept about one-third and sometimes 
one-h.alf of my farm in grain crops yearly since I owned it, and 
the result is that it is far more productive than when I com- 
menced on it; and every one that knows it now and knew it 
then, knows that what I write is true. Manure, however, will 
be consumed much sooner in much of the land on Long Island, 
than on our drained clay lands in this part of the State of New 
York." The reader should keep in mind that I advocate in this 
treatise no other system of farm manngement than that which 
will be self-sustaining — by which the intelligent farmer will be able 
to maintain the fertility of his soil, with the materials that the 
farm affords. 

254. In addition to the foregoing remarks, I have copied a 
portion of a letter from Mr. Johnston, who imported into this 
country the first drain tile and tile machine: and who gave us 
an excellent practical illustration of the manner of restoring and 
improving the fertility of a worn-out farm by thorough draining 
and barnyard manure. He says : " If our farmers would only 
make all the manure they can on their own farms, they would 
have no occasion to resort to guano or chemical manures. It 
may perhaps be profitable to import guano, and to apply to che- 



123 THE YouxG fakmer's manual. 

mists to manufacture manures in Great Britain, where produce 
enough cannot be raised to feed the population ; but not so in 
this conutry, where we raise a hirge surplus for exportation, and 
a great deal that is worse than wasted in manufacturing intoxi- 
cating drinks. If our farmers would convert their coarse grahis 
into mutton, pork and beef, I believe they v.ould find it more to 
their profit than selling them." 

MIXING DIFFERENT SOILS. 

255. By referring to alluvial soils, the reader will perceive 
that when an alluvial soil is conijiosed of about equal parts of 
clay, sand and humus, it will be a very rare instance in which 
another soil will excel it in productiveness. Taking the hint from 
this consideration, we find frequently that an excellent job may 
be performed by mixing the different kinds of soil in many of our 
cultivated fields. On many farms, all over the United States and 
Canada, there are low lands and high lands in the same fields 
which vary in height and depth only a few feet; and the leaves of 
the forest and the decayed vegetable matter has been accumula- 
ting in the low lands for ages unknown, so that there is but 
little vegetable matter or humus on the knolls or high ground. 
Here, then, is an instance in which too much of a good thing is 
not found to be as beneficial for producing crops as a smaller 
quantity would be. 

256. Now, then, we want to get a large proportion of 
this light soil in the low places, back on the higher ground, 
where much of it once came from. But the great barrier in the 
way of accomplishing this object is, the vast labor required to 
remove a few inches in depth of soil to another part of the field. 
But if such light soil can be removed and mingled with the heavy 
and compact soil on the high ground, a better effect will often 
be produced on the fertility of the soil than there would be by 
th.e application of a liberal dre?Ring of manure. As it is a mucli 
easier matter to tell what ought to be done, concerning mixing 
soils, than it is to dq it, I propose to give some of the 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 129 



DETAILS OF EXPERIENCE IN MIXING SOILS. 

25t. Although my farm was called a level farm, there was 
much high ground and much low ground. And in some places 
in the low ground the liglit, dark-colored soil had accumulated— 
at the expense of the soil on the high ground — to the depth 
of eight to twelve inches. On the high ground, in some \)ivU of 
the field, the super-soil, not more than three or four inche.^ deep, 
rested on a stiff, calcareous clayey loam in some instances; and 
in others on hard pan, or on a stubborn subsoil of grivelly clay, 
which was very hard to cultivate for almost any kind of crops. 
I have my mind, at the present writing, on a portion of one field 
that was about two feet higher than a strip of low ground. Tais 
high ground was well underdrained and manured liberally very 
often. But the ground where I never allowed any minura 
to be distributed, would always produce more than twice as much 
per acre as the high ground. But I found there was nothing 
snperior to a coat of the soil from the low ground spread on the 
high ground, to increase its productiveness for any kind of cropi 
— grass not excepted. 

258. My manner of mixing such soils was to have the soil 
that was to be removed plowed up in a mellow condition, and 
then with a team and dirt scraper scrape off a few inches in 
depth and haul it to the higher ground. One man with a team 
could hold and drive, and haul soil six or eight rods faster than 
he could do it in any other minner. And a man who has never 
performed any such labor would be astonished to see how much 
soil one man and a team would remove several rods in one day. 
I worked at this at any season of the year when the soil was not 
wet enough to adhere to the scraper. Many a day has the writer 
removed soil alone with a team and scraper; and after the two 
kinds of soil were well mingled together, the good effect on the 
crops at such places was always more satisfactory than wiien 
only a coat of m inure was applied. After a few inches in depth 
of the light soil had been removed, a portion of the subsoil wonid 
be turned up — if it could be reached with the plow — .mi mingled 
6* 



130 THE YOTiyrr FAnMEu's MANTAL. 

with the lip^ht soil. Tliis subsoil always increased the productive- 
ness of that kind of soil more than a top dressing of manure. 

PvEMOVIXG SOIL WITH A WHEEL-BARUGW. 

259. Let six or eight narrow plank be placed end to end for 
the wheel to run on, and let the soil to be removed be plowed, 
and then let it be wheeled and spread on each side of the plank 
for ten or twelve feet. Then carry the plank along, and cover 
another plot as already done. If the soil is mellow, and not full 
of water, an active laborer will remove and spread a great many 
cubic yards of soil in a day. Still another way is where the dis- 
tance is too great to carry soil with wheel-barrows, or with a 
team and scraper, to liaul it on wagons. Let the bottom or 
platform be made of light scantling, about three inches squire, 
with the ends shaved round, so that one man can drop a load of 
soil in a very few minutes; and then use two wagons, and let 
one or two laborers load the light soil, and one man haul and 
unload it. Every dollar that is expended in this manner will be 
returned with interest in the increased amount of the first two 
crops — and many times in the first crop — that such soil produces. 

260. The easiest and most expeditious way to spread soil 
evenly that has been dropped from a scraper or wagon is, to 
fasten two large pieces of scantling together, in the shape of a 
three-square harrow, and hitch a team to it, and let the driver 
ride on it. One mau with a team will be able to spread 
more earth, and such a dirt spreader, than ten men woull 
spread with shovels. Another important consideration is, to 
drop the scraper loads in rows a few feet apart, and drop the 
earth from wagons in small heaps, which will facilitate spreading 
it. 

IMPROVING MUCKY SOILS. 

2G1. In many parts of the country the entire soil, with an 
occasional knoll of sand, loam, or clay, consists of black mould 
or muck, which is often so deep that it is impracticable to turn 
up with the plow any of the sub^^oil on which it rests. In such 
instances earth must be hauled with waocons and mixjd with ao'iU 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 131 

of this character, to give thein firmnsss and solidity for grass or 
any Ivind of cereal grain. Therefore a thin covering of clay 
spread over the entire surface in autumn or in winter, where it 
will be exposed to the dissolving and disintegrating influences of 
frosts and rains, will tell more effectually on the productiveness 
of such soils than two crops of clover plowed under or a good 
dressing of barn-yard manure. Such soils do not need improving 
with clover or any other green crops. They lack mineral fer- 
tilizers, or they lack what we scientifically denominate inorganic 
manure, which clay will furnish in unlimited abundance. There- 
fore a farmer need not be at the expense of attempting to im- 
prove the fertility of such soils by the same system of manage- 
ment that would be necessary on a heavy soil. Apply clay — this 
heavy, unctuous, slippery clay is just the stuff — and every load will 
be more valuable in rendering such a soil productive than a load of 
ordinary barnyard manure. If clay cannot be obtained get clay 
loam, or this compact, calcareous, gravelly clay. Plow up some 
hard barren knoll, or scrape away the super-soil, and plow up the 
subsoil, and spread it on the mucky soil. Every time such light, 
porous, mucky soil needs the application of some fertilizers apply 
a dressing of clay until its texture has been so changed that it 
may be said to consist of one-sixth or one-tenth part of clay. 
B;it a dressing of barnyard manure every time clay is applied 
will also increase its productiveness. 

SANDY AND GRAVELLY SOILS. 

262. Where sand and gravel predominate in soils to such a 
degree that a good shower of rain is needed almost every day to 
keep vegetation from' drying up, nothing will improve them so 
well as a dressing of clay. x\.nd the next best dressing will be 
clayey loam. When neither of these kinds of soil is at hand, 
muck or peat, or some other kind of earth mingled with the sandy 
and gravelly soil, will tell a good story on its productiveness. 
Such soils that are too open and porous to retain moisture re- 
quire clay mingled thoroughly through them, so that they will be 
more retentive in holding moisture and the fertilizins- substanceg 



132 

that j)romote the growth of all kinds of plants, and then they 
need mould, humus, muck, clover, or maiza, or barnyard manure, 
to make them productive. 

263. We have read of experiments in applying clay, after it 
had been finely jmlverized, to Indian corn in the hill on sandy 
soils, and the effect was to increase the quantity of grain per 
acre quite as much as a dressing of hog-pen manure did when ap- 
plied to some of the other rows in the same field. A shovelful of 
clay applied to a hill of corn, when properly preparecl, would 
operate on a sandy soil in a most beneficial manner. If it were 
sprinkled around the hill — as it should be, and not thrown in a 
heap as it should not be — 30 as to cover an area of ground about 
two feet in diameter, much fertilizing material would be furnished 
for the roots of the young plants, and it would operate as a good 
mulch for retaining the necessary moisture in which sandy and 
porous soils are often deficient. 

264. When pulverized clay is applied to Indian corn in this 
way the fertilizing matter will be passing down to the roots dur- 
ing all the growing season. And the good effect will be as great 
on the crops for two years after it was applied as it was the first 
season. A top dressi.ig of pulverized clay would be excellent 
on a porous, sandy soil, when roots of any kind are raised, if it 
were prepared properly, and applied after the young plants had 
got a good start. 

265. The editor of the Country Gentknmn writes: " In al- 
most every section of oar country there are tracts, of greater or 
less exicnt, of s-indy, gravelly, or light loamy soil'. Even in 
New England, notwithstanding the mountainous and rocky cha- 
racter of many sections of it, in the aggregate there is within its 
limits immense quantities of light sandy lands, which generally, 
when spoken of, are designated as 'pine lands,' as the original 
forest growtli when the country was first settled was most com- 
posed of the white and other varieti s of pine trees. Tliese soils 
are tiie result of past geological agencies, and, by geologists, are 
termed drift or diluvial, while the lower-lying lands, bordering 
onr rivers and smaller streams, are called alluvial soils ; in somo 



THE YO -XG farmer's MANUAL. 133 

sections they are termed ' bottom lauds;' in otlier, intervales. 
The allavlal o.* intervale lands are freqne ^tly the most produc- 
tive and valuable lands we hav >, though they vary somewhat in 
natural fertility and agricultural value. 

266. " The diluvial or sandy soils, generally forming the 
peconl teiTace above t!ie rivers, vary greatly in their natural fer- 
tility and agricultural value, aside from their nearness to or re- 
moteness from markets. These differences are generally owing 
to the chemical, mineral, anl physical composition of the earthy 
materials forming them; some of which, if they can be called 
soils, consist almost entirely of fine silicious sands, destitute of 
vegetation of any kind. Large tracts of such are found on Cape 
Cod and elsewhere. There may be particular locations and other 
conditions where the reclamation, by heavy dressings of clay or 
muck and manure, of such * blowing s mds,' may be made to 
pay in the production of excellent crops of grass and cereal 
grain." 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MIXING SOILS. 

26t. In nearly all parts of the country different kinds of 
earth arc found deposited in hills, knolls, valleys, and plains, in 
sufficient abundance to improve such soils as need improvement 
by mixture. Wherever we find heavy, slipp3ry clay soils, we 
shall almost always find, within a convenient hauling distance, 
hills of gravel or sanl, or both, as well as beds of muck and stores 
of fcxjellent sanly loam, or some other kind of earth that will 
improve the productiveness of a soil whose preponderating in- 
gredient is heavy clay. 

268. In many localities there may be found inexhaustible de- 
posits of excellent alluvial, which will have an excellent effect — 
both mechanically and chemically — on any ki ;d of soil that may 
be found on the uplands contiguous to it. 

269. The intelligent farmer will be able to understand from 
these remarks that when it is recommended in making and ap- 
plying m inures to soils to use muck and peat in composting or 
in absorbing the liquids of stables and stock yards, the soil to 
which the manure is to be applied is not a mucky soil, but, on th? 



134 THE YnUNG farmer's aFANUAL, 

contrary, one that is different in its texture and composition from 
the kind of earth that is to be applied to or niixgd with it. Let 
clayey soils have a dressing of sand, fine gravel, muck, or sandy 
loam; let sand receive a proper admixture of clav; let mucky 
soils be dressed with some compact soils or earth, as clay, clayey 
loam, or gravelly clay. Light mucky or peaty soils may often be 
mucli improved by a sprinkling of sand or sandy loam, where 
earth of a clayey nature cannot be conveniently obtained. 

•2 to. In some parts of our country there are inexhaustible de- 
posits of marl. Now, in case light and mucky soils are near such 
deposits, their pro luctiveness may often be increased fully one- 
half by a Hberal dressing of the marl, even when it may have to 
be dug from several feet below the surface of the earth. These 
few ideas, in connection with what may be learned under the 
head of Deep Plowing and Thorough Pulverization, in the next 
Chapter, will be sufficient to enable every farmer to manage his 
soils in a very satisfactory manner. But, it must be borne in 
mind, that the great proportion of the soil of our country can be 
improved by deep plowing, in connection with clover and barn- 
yard manure, better and cheaper than any other way, 

MIXING SOILS IN NEW ENGLAND. 

2*71. A farmer of Yermont records a little experiment for 
the American Agriculturist, which proves that a top-dressing of 
yellow loam to a clay soil operates very satisfactorily. He 
writes: "I had a piece of ground which had become reduced by 
a succession of crops, so that it produced only five hundred pounds 
of hay to the acre. I wished to dig a cellar under my barn, and 
concluded to try an experiment with the earth which was taken 
out. I measured off oiie acre of the field above mentioned, and 
drew the earth from the cellar upon it, covering the piece to the 
depth of two or three inches when it was evenly spread. This 
w:\s turned under, the same autumn, to the depth of six inc'.ies. 
The next spring it was harrowed thoroughly, and one half 
planted to potatoes, and the other half sown to oats. The result 
was one hundred and tv*^enty-five bushels of potatoes, of as fine a 



THE YOUNG FAIl^[ER's MANUAL. 135 

quality as I ever raised, and thirty bushels of oats. I again 
plowed it in the autumn, going two inches deeper than the pre- 
vious plowing. In the spring I thoroughly mixed and pulverized 
the soil, and sov/cd to wheat, and seeded to clover and timothy 
grass. I had a stout growth of straw, but owing to the weevils, 
the yield was about 15 bushels of wheat. I have since cut two 
tons of hay to the acre for two years. I think the four crops 
hive well paid me for the trouble of trying the experiment; and 
the result has been, thus far, quite as good as though I had ap- 
plied thirty loads of manure to the land. The soil was clayey; 
the earth applied was a yellow loam. I think the mixing of soils, 
as clay upon sand, or sand upon clay, will prove of great benefit 
where' the materials for making an abundance of manure are 
scarce." 

272. I have known other instances in which farmers have kept 
their teams hauling earth from hills, knolls, or places where ex- 
cavations were being made, to fields on their farms — some times 
more than half a mile distant — where the soil was of a different 
quality from that which they were hauling; and the good effect 
could always be perceived in the increased productiveness of such 
soil for any crops that were raised on it for several years to come. 

MIXING SOILS IN NEW YORK. 

273. In addition to my own experience, which has been re- 
corded in other places in this book, I copy a few paragraphs 
from the Country Gc/i^/e/«a?j concerning mixing soils: "Draining 
and manuring are the principal means which have hitherto been 
employed for improving the condition or composition of soils. 
Almost all agriculturists — certainly all inquiring and well-in- 
formed ones — are now pretty well acquainted with the advan- 
tages to be derived from the above-named methods of improve- 
ment, and are thoroughly convinced that all injudicious ex- 
penditure, either in the way of draining or of manuring, will or 
may be made to pay. The agricultural community do not need 
great addition to their knowledge on these points. But there is 
a method of improving soils, to which the attention of farmers 



13G 

has not been, as yet, muc'.i directed. We refer to that method 
which consists in adding to soils those earthy substances in which 
they are deficient. Some little has been done in this way in the 
case of gardens; but in the cnse of fields or plow-lands, very little 
has been attempted, principally, we presume, from the generally 
prevailing opinion that labor exjiended in this manner * will not 
pay.' 

274. " This o]iinion we are inclined to think an erroneous one 
in many cases. Where labor is scarce and high it may be true; 
but where there are quite a number of boys in the family, and 
several teams on the farm, and work not crowding in the lali 
and early part of winter, we think this opinion may stand in the 
way of making some additions to the too sandy, too clayey, too 
mucky, or too something else soil of a field, which would render 
that field much more productive, causing an increase in the crops 
from it for many years, which w^ould amount to a large percent- 
age on the cash value of the labor expended on it. From what 
we have witnessed in the case of some gardens and some patches 
for corn-culture, to which sand, meadow muck, and composts of 
various kinds had been added so as to alter the composition of 
the soil very much — as, for example, changing a hard clay, al- 
most all the season too stiff to be worked with hoe or otherwise 
•into a loose, friable, dark-colored loam — we are strongly inclined 
to the opinion that a large outlay in making needed alterations 
in the composition of soils would be better than investing the 
money at an interest of 10 per cent. As small expjrhne its 
of this kind, comparing the outlay with the increase of products 
as far as that can be done, would be the most likely way of 
banishing erroneous opinions, and of leading to the general preva- 
lence of right ones, we would urge those who can spare the time 
and labor at any time from this date till the setting in of winter, 
to make a trial on some small patch of garden, meadow, or cora 
ground. Let clay, clay marl, sand, gravel, meadow muck, &c., 
be drawn out upon the soils which need such additions; let these 
additions be spread equally over the surface in the spring, and the 
results carefully noted. These results will not consist wholly in 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 137 

increased productiveness of soil, but there will be, besides an in- 
crease of crop, a greater facility and pleasure in cultivation, nn 
opportunity of raising crops for which the soil was formerly un- 
suitable, and, probably, a more obvious and ready return from 
the application of manure. Light sandy and gravelly soils, upon 
which, perhaps, wheat cannot be raised to any advantage, are 
benefitted by additions of clay, clay marl, peaty earth or meadow 
muck, or a mixture of all of these in a compost with stable and 
barn manure. Ciay soils, again, are benefitted by additions of 
lime, sand, gravel, loamy sand, and peaty earth. Any of these 
separately, or a mixture of several of them, will alter for the 
better the composition of such soils, and render them more fria- 
ble, fertile, and easily cultivated. Upon both these kinds of soil, 
and indeed uj on almost every variety of soil, peat earth acts 
favorably. It should always form a part of any mixture which 
is added to a soil if it can be had conveniently. 

EXPERIMENTS IN MIXING SOILS. 

275. To these general directions I will add a brief account of 
two experiments of the kind I am recommending, which have 
fallen under my observation, and from the details of which a hint 
or two may be gleaned for the guidance of tliose who are dis- 
posed to coutinue experimenting on this subject. In the first 
case, the spot most convenient for a garden on a new farm was 
one of hard, stiff clay. An attempt was made during the first 
year to make the soil of this garden more friable and loose by 
plowing in a liberal supply of long or undecomposed manure. 
This, however, seemed to have little effect Next year leached 
ashes were spread freely upon a part of this clay garden, perhaps 
two inches deep," but with little effect in making the soil looser, 
or more capable of being hoed in warm dry weather. During 
the fall or early winter of another year enough of meadow muck 
was drawn upon the garden to cover the whole surface to the 
depth of about two inches. This was intimately mixed with the 
clay to the depth of 8 or 9 inches the first year, by spading, 
raking, &c., and from that time to this that soil has had quite a, 



138 THE YOUNG FARMKrVs MANUAL. 

different appearance, has been mnch more productive, never gets 
baked, compact or hard, and admits of the weeds being pulled 
up with much more ease than formerly. lu the other case, there 
was a peaty meadow and much clay soil upon the farm. Near 
by, however, was a sand hill, from which could be taken any 
quantity of pretty fine and pure sand. In the fall of each year, 
for a term of years, enough of sand was drawn from this hill to 
cover a large barn-yard to the depth of 5 or 6 inches. This 
was spread out evenly with the hoe so as to be a bed for the 
cattle. Being fed around this yard, and sleeping in it al night, 
almost all the droppings of the cattle and all the urine fell upon 
this sandy bed of the yard. When the surface became filthy, so 
that the cattle could not readily find a clean place to lie down, 
the plow was taken out and run through this sand, and a new, 
fresh, clean surface turned up. Such was the mode of manage- 
ment during the winter. In the spring, at convenient times, this 
sand was all hauled out upon the farm, sometimes upon the low 
meadow, but generally on t])e upland. From cart or wagon two 
men scattered it as far as it would go. The natural meadow 
became gradually less mucky, and more fit for the growth of 
herds' grass, and subsequently of crops of corn. The clay land 
became more loose and friable, and when the dressing did not 
extend all over the field to which it was applied, the difference in 
the color and growth cf the grass, and in the amount of the hay, 
was quite observable. One field which had more of this dressing 
than any other became changed from a stiff, compact clay to a 
loose, friable clayey loam; and with a dressing of meadow muck 
from the cleanings of the ditches, assumed a dark appearance re- 
sembling thos3 rich low soils which abound in carbonaceous de- 
posits. These fields can now be plowed or hoed at times when, 
as formerly, they would have been hard and compact almost as 
a bi-ick. 

IMrROVIXG SANDY SOILS WITH CLAY. 

27G. A correspondent of the Gcrnmntown Telegra'ph writes : 
*• There is a very erroneous impression on some minds, that light, 
loose sands are valueless for the purposes of cultivation. lu 



THE YOUNG FAHMER's MANUAL. 139 

their natural state, it is true, they are not very productive. A 
few crops of rye or buckwheat reduces their fertility, and so much 
manure is thenceforth requisite to reinvigorate and keep them 
in heart that they are either turned out to pasture or abandoned 
in despair. I have had some experience in the cultivation of this 
species of soils; and my success has induced me to attach to them 
a much higher degree of importance than is usually accorded- 
And I am fully persuaded, that even the lightest and most sterile 
soils may, by proper management, and without any ruinous outlay 
of expense, either in time or capital, be made highly and perma- 
nently productive; in short, that our poorest plain land can be 
redeemed from this unjust imputation of utter worthlessness, and 
made to yield not only remunerating crops, but crops equalling 
in abundance and richness those afforded by the most affluent soils 
upon which labor was ever yet bestowed. In the first place, in 
order to the successful amelioration of sandy soils, it will be neces- 
sary completely and thoroughly to cleanse them from stumps. 
After this is effected, let them be ploughed deeply with a strong 
team in the last of summer, turning in all the growth upon them 
to the depth of at least one foot; then harrow thoroughly and roll 
with as heavy a roller as you can procure. The next thing is to 
give the surface a good dressing of clay. This earth will generally 
be found in the near vicinity of the field to be clayed, either in 
some neighboring run or water course, or beneath the sand; for 
sand and clay are never far apart. The finer it is, and the more 
greasy, the better and more durable will be its action ; and the 
more liberally it is applied, the more thorough will be the im- 
provement consequent upon its application. The best time for 
a])plying it is immediately after ploughing; and, to secure its 
being refined and broken up, it should be deposited in heaps, and 
spread evenly over the surface, to remain exposed during the 
winter to the action of the frost. In the spring plough again, 
not so deeply as before. In order not to disturb the sward, har- 
row, and again roll. You can now sow on rye, or plant; 
and the crop will come off in season to allow you an opportunity 
to give another dressing of clay, which in quantity should be 



140 THE YOUNG FARMKIl'S MANTAL. 

equal to the first — say forty cords to the acre — and spread as 
before. 

277. This will entirely change the texture of the soil, and 
you will no longer liave the barrenness of sand to contend with; 
but a soil endued with all the essential requisites of permanent 
and vigorous fertility, and on which manure will act with as much 
celerity and energy as upon the richest loams. It may be thought 
that the quantity of clay recommended — 80 cords to the acre — 
is hirge; but when we reflect that some cultivators bestow this 
amount of stable manure, and bear in mind the important fact, 
that while manure is an article for which money has to be paid, 
the whole cost of clay is embraced in the carting, the objection 
arising from the quantity requisite to insure a complete and 
thorough improvement being large, will at once cease to retain its 
force. If the farmer cannot afford this, he can apply a less quan- 
tity at first, and add to it year by year; but, in this case, he 
must contend with a much less lucrative return for his annual 
labors, as a very large per centage of clay is called for, in order 
thoroughly to improve the soil, and overcome the many and 
serious imperfections of sand, as it naturally exists. There- 
fore it is much better and more in accordance with a policy of en- 
lightened economy to give enough at first to effect the object 
desired, than to occupy years with only a limited annual return. 

278. One great reason — and indeed I regard it as the princi- 
pal one — why manure never acts vigorously on light sand is, that 
the extreme porosity which characterizes it, causes the dung to 
keep dry^ and consequently to remain inert. A lump of dry 
manure is no better in the soil than a chip or a stone; and will 
prod-ucejust the same effect upon the crop. The clay gives 
cohesiveness to the particles, unites them, by a sort of glutinous 
attachment and consolidation. And while it favors absorption 
and retention of moisture, insures the fermentation and ultimate 
decomposition of the dung. In a few years the soil assumes a fiiie 
dark ;ip})earance, resembling that of garden mould; and the 
various gr.isses will find in it a bed capable of affording expan- 
sion and soluble food commensurate with their wants. To every 



THE Y0T7NG FARMER'S MANUAL. Itil 

person, therefore, who is the possessor of sandy soil, I would say 
day it at once! No soil is so easily worked; and from no soil, 
when managed in this way, will labor secure to itself a more certain 
and rich reward.'^ 

LASTING EFFECT OP CLAY WITH SAND. 

279. Judge Buel, who gave such an excellent impetus to prac- 
tical agriculture in America, on the sandy soils near Albany, 
N. Y., penned the following remarks, which will be read with 
interest : *' A few years since I broke up and planted to corn a 
clover lay upon sandy soil, embracing an area of about ten acres 
of land. Upon an acre of tliis ground, more than twsnty years 
before, thirty loads of clay had been deposited, and had become 
thoroughly incorporated with the sand. The ground in every 
other respect possessed the same character and qualities. It was 
plowed at the same time and subjected to the same tillnge in 
every detail. Immediately on the appearance of the young 
sprouts, the crop growing upon the mixture of sand and clay 
exhibited a more vigorous growth, with a deeper and healthier 
color. As the crop advanced, the difference increased, and the 
boundary of the area became as distinctly marked by the ap- 
pearance of the crop as if it had been separated by a hedge from 
the remainder of the lot. This appearance was so remarkable 
as to attract the constant observation and inquiry of strangers 
as to the causes of the marked and peculiar distinction. The 
part of the lot containing the clay was little injured by the grub 
and worms, although the remainder suffered severely from their 
ravages. The crop of the entire field was excellent; but that 
grown upon the acre of clayey sand yielded almost twice the 
harvest in both grain and stalks of any other acre." 

280. The result of an experiment is recorded in the Genesee 
Farmer, which the writer states was tried in Herkimer County, 
N. Y., from which it appears that the hygrometrical or absorp- 
tion power of a loose, sandy soil treated with a light coating of 
clay was very efficacious. The author says that, during a trying 
drought, a poor, sandy soil that he had treated with a coating 



142 THE YOUNG FAmiER's MANUAL. 

of blue clay the year beiorj, now stood the drought well, yielding 
a good crop of red clover, while the other part of the field, un 
clayed, remained parched and dry, presenting a scanty vegetation, 
liardly worth harvesting. 

281. Again, the soil tlius clayed was so permanently benefitted, 
that it required less than half the stall manure to enable it to pro- 
duce crops that was required by the sandy surface not thus treated 
with clay; thus proving that the constant requirement of sandy 
soil for heavy manuring is entirely due to its lack of the alumi- 
nous principle which enables it to hold the escaping gasses of de- 
composing manures for the benefit of the growing crop. There 
are thousands of acres of scrub oak and pine plains on Long 
Island, within two hours by rail of the city of New York, all 
arable land, needing no underdrains, a sandy loam surface and 
coarser subsoil; but making a compact and perfect race-course 
roadway. To grow the best of red clover, these plains have 
only to be cleared and burned over, but for continuous cropping, 
the soil needs the aluminous principle in a coating of clay, which 
when worked in gives adhesive absorptiveness to the soil, with- 
out which there can be no lasting fertility short of continued 
heavy manuring. 

282. Thaer says, in his Principles of Agriculture, that " Land 
should be chiefly valued according to its consistence; the greater 
the degree of this quality which it possesses, the nearer does it 
approach to first-class land; but the smaller the proportion of 
clay, and the larger quantity of sand which enters into its com- 
position, the more rapidly does it fall in value." Experience as 
well as history confirms this remark as correct. All the great 
deserts of the world are composed mainly of shifting sands. The 
most fertile soils, wherever found, contain a large portion of clay. 
Clays, however, differ largely in agricultural value, as may here- 
after be shown. 

283. One reason for the valuable character of clay soils is 
found in the fact that they contain, more than any other soil, the 
elements of fertility within themselves. They are usually more 
or less productive, if rightly cultivated, without aid from stimulants 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANITAL. 



143 



or manures, but acknowledge such aid very gratefully when re- 
ceived. A recent writer says " they are deposits of various 
earthy compounds mixed in many cases with organic matter, and 
frequently require only aeration to render them productive." 

284. The practical lesson taught us is, that to farm clay soils 
profitably we must take full advantage of the property they 
possess of attracting and holding the elements of fertility supplied 
by atmospheric influences — air, water and light. To this end 
they must have exposure to the air, freedom from stagnant water, 
and a course of tillage which shall keep them in a comparatively 
mellow state. The natural characteristic of clay is to attract and 
retain water, to harden in drying, and to become impervious 
generally to all ameliorating influences, and the more so the 
longer they remain undisturbed.^ This, however, depends more 
upon their state of drainage than upon anything else; and this 
naturally accords with the amount of clay present in the soil, and 
the porous or non-porous character of the subsoil. 

CULTURE OF HARD-BAKED SOILS. 

285, On this subject, I transcribe some remarks that were 
prepared for the Country Gentleman, adding such as more mature 
experience appears to warrant. To produce a proper seed-bed 
on a heavy or hard-baked soil is always a difficult matter, re- 
quiring a great amount of labor, and often resulting imperfectly 
at last . If land containing a certain proportion of clay be plowed 
in the usual manner, comparatively dry, it will present a greater 
or less proportion of lumi)S or clods of a size proportioned to 
the depth of the furrow and the baked state of the soil, and very 
far from affording a seed-bed likely to produce any profitable 
crop. If plowed when comparatively ivet, and dry weather fol- 
lows before any further cultivation ensues, the same cloddy state 
is the result; nor would the preparation of the soil be enhanced 
by any working given, while the soil was iu a plastic state. To 
produce the best results in the easiest way, such soils must be 
woiked when just dry enough to crumble down; when not so wet 
as to knead, nor so bak^J as to require great force to break 



144 THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 

it up, and only in clods at that. We find it difficult to ex- 
plain the matter jjlainly; but every farmer who has uncultivated 
lieavy soils will understand our meaning from liis own experience. 
Tlie question, then, is not when and how shall we best cultivate 
heavy soils; but how, when a heavy soil becomes baked, shall it 
best be pulverized — best reduced to that state of fine tilth to 
furnish a proper seed-bed for our crops. We cannot always take 
advantage of that crumbling stage of a heavy soil; our forces 
may be otherwise employed, or insufficient to do all our plowing 
while the ground is properly moist. Therefore the gre.it idea 
will be to reduce these huge slabs of putty-like furrow slices, or 
the rough clods and lumps, to a fine tilth. 

28G. In the first place the soil must be thoroughly drained. 
If it is wet and continues to remain wet, until the scorching heat 
of summer has dried up the excessive moisture, there is no pos- 
sible way of accomplishing this important object but by me- 
chanical means. When these compact soils are covered with 
lumps of baked earth, a few hours after a heavy shower of rain 
has fallen, they will crumble to fine powder at a slight pressure. 
Therefore let a heavy roller pass over them, which will pulverize, 
most thoroughly, every one near the surface. (See Haw to Make 
a Good and Cheap Roller in Vol. I.) After the ground has been 
rolled, harrow it, with a heavy harrow. This will pulverize many 
of the lumps; and will also bring many more to the surface, 
which must be crushed with the roller. (Read When to Harrow 
Compact S oils in next Chapter.) But in case the soil was plowed 
when so wet that it lies in long, hard furrow slices, just as the 
plow left it, the best way will be to cross plow it when it is just 
dry enough to pulverize well. After this, apply the roller and 
harrow shortly after a "heavy shower of rain; and the work will 
be done. 

KEEPING STOCK OFF SOILS WHEN WET 

287 Fcvv farmers, comparatively, appear to exercise that 
great care on this point which is absolutely necessary in t)rder to 
keep heavy soils from plowing up lumj)y. When the soil is frozen 



THE YOUNG FARMER*S MANUAL. 145 

up tight, or is dry, stock cannot injure it by running over it. 
And many farmers will insist that it will not make it lumpy 
to allow stock to tread and poach it in the fall; because they 
insist that the frosts of winter will expand and pulverize it 
wherever the feet of stock may have poached it, although a soil 
will not plow up as lumpy when it has been poached in the fall 
by the feet of heavy stock as it will if they are allowed to run 
over it in the spring; still that soil will be far more lumpy when 
ijattle have poached it in the fall than it would be had it not 
been poached at all. 

288. Wherever heavy animals are allowed to poach a soil 
that will bake hard in dry weather, their feet compress the dirt 
into less than half the space that it occupied previous to being 
poached. And such portions must be expanded more than half 
1 dozen times before it will occupy as much space as it did before 
being compressed. And when a soil is already too close and 
compact, it will be very injurious to it to have it pressed into 
half the space that it ought to occupy. 

289. My own practice always was to exercise as much care 
in keeping heavy stock off plow lands, when the soil was wet — 
at ail seasons of the year — as I did in keeping them off my fields 
of grain or meadows. Where there is a large proportion of sand 
or gravel in the soil, heavy animals will not injure it by poaching 
as they will a clayey soil. But there are few soils in America 
that will not be injured, more or less, by being poached by heavy 
animals when they are too wet to be plowed, 

RENOVATING WORN-OUT LANDS IN JUAJNE. 

290. On this subject E. L. Hammond says : " The renova- 
tion of an exhausted farm requires time, patience, perseverance 
an J capital; and the larger stock a man has of these on hand, 
the sooner he may consummate his object. Yet patience and 
perseverance will accomplish much in a short time, if rightly ap- 
plied. Any mode of farming which does not return to the farm 
annually that amount of plant-sustaining elements which have 
been drawn from it by the crops which have been removed, may 

7 



146 THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

be set down as bad management, and will soon show itself in the 
shape of a worn-out soil," 

291. It is sometimes found that apparently worn-out soils 
are not so much exhausted as they appear to be; and by a right 
application of means they may be easily reclaimed. I think 
that a large majority of farms, at least in the northern counties 
of Maine,are of this class. For instance: a succession of the same 
kind of crops may have exhausted the soil of more or less of the 
elements necessary to sustain and nurture sucli crops, and still 
retain the necessary elements to grow some other. Again, a 
variety of crops may have exhausted the surface soil of most 
of its plant-sustaining properties, wliere shoal plowing has been 
the practice, and the farmer considers his farm worn out, when, if 
he would deepen the cultivation a few inches, he would probably 
lui-u u[) to tiie action of the air and water many important ele- 
ments necessary to sustain vegetation. 

ADAPTING CROPS TO THE SOIL. 

•' Each soil hath no liking of every grain, 
Nor barley nor wheat is for evpry vein; 
Yet know I no country so barren of soil, 
But some kind of corn may be g i.cii with toil." — Tusseb. 

292. After all our discussion about the various kinds of soil, 
and the different modes of managing them, in order to make 
them fertile and productive, if a farmer fails to adapt his crops to 
the soil, he makes a grand failure in the one great and essential 
point on which all his success depends. Why can we not raise 
water melons and musk melons, by the wagon load, on our best 
wheat soil, as they are raised in many places on a different kind 
of soil ? Because the soil is not adapted to their growth. On the 
contrary, why can we not grow forty bushels of good wheat per 
acre on the very soil where melons, squashes, and sweet potatoes 
will attain an enormous size with almost no cultivation at all ? 
Simply because the soil is not adapted to its growth. 

293. Multitudes of farmers, not understanding this principle, 
have expended, in the aggregate, small fortunes in trying to grow 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 14T 

certain crops on certain soils, which were no better adapted to 
each other than our northern winters are to the necessities of 
the chattering wren. Thousands who were ignorant of the con- 
stitution of a good soil for wheat have read the cheering accounts 
of raising forty or more bushels of wheat per acre in certain lo- 
calities; and thinking that manure, clover, and thorough pul- 
verization of the soil were the all-important considerations for 
wheat, they have plowed deep and manured highly some fields 
where hardly a trace of clay could be found, and have produced 
straw large enough to yield more than fiffey bushels of grain per 
acre, but received, to their great disappointment, hardly enough 
to pay the expense of cultivation. 

294. Now, what has been the result ? Why, those who have 
failed to grow as large a crop of wheat on a soil that was not at 
all adapted to that kind of grain as another farmer produced on 
the best kind of a wheat soil, have4ost their confidence in reports 
of such agriculture, and denounc-'d it as " humbuggery," a^ 
" book-farming," and as a report concerning something that " no 
practical farmer ever realized." And thus it has been in mul- 
titudes of instances concerning root crops and grass. Some 
farmers have taken a new start in agriculture to raise roots of 
some kind — beets, carrots, or turnips — for feeding stock, and 
have selected a piece of ground that was no more adapted to the 
production of such crops than the clay of a brickyard is adapted 
to making a good radish bed. Of cours3, after bestowing twice 
as much labor in their cultivation as they require in a good soil, 
they were compelled lo acknowledge a failure, and were glad to 
return to a proper system. 

295. Here, also, is another cause of failure. We may go 
through our States, from Maine to Kansas, inquiring about grasses 
for hay and for grazing, and we shall find a large proportion of our 
best farmers cultivating and ready to extol, in the highest terras, 
certain kinds of grass, while nearly an equal number will de- 
nounce those very kinds as not fit for cultivation. Let a maa 
read all the communications in our best agricultural papers coa- 
Cc'rning Hungarian grass — for example — and if he possesses no 



148 THE YOUNG FARM E It's MANUAL. 

other evidonce of its excellence, he will be as much puzzled to 
decide upon its merits as he would be were he required to deter- 
mine correctly the points of the compass in a cloudy day in the 
middle of the ocean. (See the details of this subject in the 
Chapter on Grasses and Wheat.) The correct way is for every 
farmer to ascertain, by trial and careful observation, what kinds 
of crops a soil will produce most advantageously, and then 
adopt a short rotation of such crops as will succeed well. 

UNPRODUCTIVE SOILS. 

296. The unproductiveness of soils is attributable to various 
causes. Sometimes it arises from excess of water, sometimes 
from a deficiency of water, sometimes from a want of lime, 
humus, or vegetable matter, and frequently from growing ex- 
hausting crops for many years in succession without eni[)loying 
any fertilizing material for the purpose of maintaining its fertility. 
In the majority of instances, however, the soils of our country 
are rendered unproductive by an excess of water, and by growing 
exhausting crops on them for many years without applying any 
manure. In some ■ instances the soil appears to be naturally 
unproductive, and neither too wet nor too dry, nor deficient in 
lime or vegetable matter; and sometimes an excess of some acid, 
alkali, or iron is the true cause of uuprodu'jtiveness., Soils that 
are composed, for the most part, of coarse gravel and sand are 
quite too porous to retain a sufficiency of moisture and vegetable 
nourishment near the surface of the ground, where it is essential 
to the gTowth of plants when the seed first germinates. Heavy 
clay soils are sometimes unproductive from a want of thorough 
pulverization. This is a common cause in many localities where 
the ground is plowed very shallow, with wide furrow slices, a. id 
only once a year, very early in the spring. Many times the 
elements of fertility are held so firmly, botli mechanically and 
chemically, in heavy soils, that their unproductiveness will yield 
only to the combined influence of mechanical action in pulveriza- 
tion and cliemical influence arising from the application of lime, 
gypsum, or something else, that will destroy this combination 



THE YOUNG FARMRr's MANUAL. 149 

and firmness, and render tlie elements of fertility ava'lable by 
plants. It is proper that w^e keep in mind the difference between 
soils that have been rendered unproductive by injudicious manage- 
ment and those that are naturally sterile or unproductive from 
some one or more of the causes just mentioned, as it is of great 
importance to k.io\v why a soil is unproductive before the best 
means can be employed to restore its impaired fertility. 

MANAGEMENT OF DIFFERENT SOILS. 

SOT. The reader has, doubtless, perceived through this entire 
book that I have been particular to state the kind of soils when 
allus'on is made to a given system of management, because I 
consider this a very essential point in plowing, harrowing, 
manuring, and almost everything else connected with its cultiva- 
tion. I have been more accustomed to the cultivation of heavy 
soils than light soils. Consequently, when I give the details of 
my system of managing for almost any kind of crop, those far- 
mers who have never cultivated a heavy soil laugh me in the 
face, and set down such directions as palpable absurdities. The 
truth is, they know nothing about the most proper manner of 
cultivating heavy soils. On the contrary, let us talk to a man 
who is entirely ignorant of the best manner of cultivating a light 
soil, of the manner of plowing, harrowing, and fertilizing, and he 
is ready at once to denounce such a practice as superlatively 
ridiculous! Let us, for example, refer to the cultivation of dif- 
ferent kinds of roots. A good farmer of New Jersey, or of some 
parts of New England, whose soil is very light, fertile, and never 
apt to bake, raises vast quantities of roots of almost any kind- 
He has only to scatter the seed, and brush it in a little, and keep 
most of the weeds subdued, and he raises a bountiful crop; audit 
appears a mystery to him that farmers in other localities do not 
grow more roots when they can be produced at such a small ex- 
pense. Only one plowing, and half done at that, and he is cer- 
tain of a crop. But, on a heavy soil, one must ditch and plow 
ill autumn, and subsoil, and harrow, and roll, and harrow again 
and roll, and wait sometimes a week or more before it will pos- 



150 THE YOUNG FARMER'S! MANUAL. 

£ibly be dry enough to plow or liarrow; and, when itis just right 
to jnilverize well, to drive the teams early and late in order to 
take advantage of the best tim-} for pulverizing the soil most ef- 
fectually. All this discussion f bout pulverization and plowing 
and harrowing in the right time is downright nonsense to the 
farmer who has never worked heavy soils. For this reason, I 
have endeavored to make a marked distincti-^n in the system of 
managing both light and heavy soils for nearly all kinds of crops. 
And every good farmer will coincide most perfectly with the sug 
gestions and directions. It should always be kept in mind that 
difTe.ent soils will require ditfcrent systems of management. 

HOW TO RENOVATE BARREN SOILS. 

" The soil must be renewerl, which, o ten washed, 
Loses its treasure of salubrious salts. 
And disappoints the crovis." — CowncR. 

298. In many parts of the country soils are found naturally 
so sterile that it is difficult to grow even a small crop of any kind 
of grain or grass. When there are no beds of muck or peat 
within convenient hauling distance, and no foreign manure is 
used, it is a tedious task to render such a soil even moderately 
productive. Still, it can often be done with no other fertilizing 
material than the farm affords. Take, for exam})le, a shallow 
calcareous or silicious loam, in which there is little or no humus 
or vegetable mould, and wliich has never produced much except 
weeds. Soils of this description can seldom be benefitted by un- 
derdraining, because the subsoil is usually so porous that the 
large amount of water falling in the spring and autumn leaches 
through the soil in a short time. If there is surface water in 
certain places, of course the first step will be to render it dry by 
thorough draining. The next operation will be to obtain a little 
mould, or humus, of which such soils are destitute. If barn-yard 
manure, mellow earth from the highways or pond beds can be 
obtained ; a thin layer over the surface will enable a farmer to 
bring a sterile soil into a good state of productiveness in a few 
years. Where nothing of the kind is at hand, proceed as follows: 



THE YOUNG F IRMER's MANUAL. 151 

Plow in autumn if possible, not more than six inclies deep, and 
plow again in the spring- no deeper than before, as soon as the 
frost is out and it is sufficiently dry. The surface soil is superior 
to that Avhich is seven or eight iiiclies below, even where it is 
very sterile; and it is important to keep the best on the surface. 
As soon as the ground is sufficiently warm to plant Indian corn, 
plow again in narrow furrow slices, and sow broadcast, or drill 
in, three and a half or four bushels of good grain per acre. It is 
better to drill in two bushels per acre each way than to sow it 
broadcast, as it will be covered of a more uniform depth, and will 
grow more uniformly. Is'ow, sow three or four bushels of 
gypsum per acre, and the more wood ashes the better, even to 
one hundred bushels per acre. If the work be well done, and the 
soil unusually sterile, all that can be expected will be a growth of 
green corn, from one to two feet high. As soon as the tassels 
have appeared, which will be in about seventy days, plow it 
under, sow five to ten bushels of quick-hme, and harrow it in; 
then drill in another four bushels of corn per acre to plow under 
just before frost. By this means two coats of green manure will 
be plowed under, wliich will furnish more humus or vegetable 
monld than any other plants will supply in one season. The spring 
following, plow with narrow furrow slices, as soon as the soil is 
dry, but no deeper than usual, sow five or eight bushels of quick 
lime per acre, harrow it in, and drill in one bushel of spring rye 
per acre. Then sow eight pounds of early red clover seed and 
half a bushel, or seven pounds, of orchard grass seed per acre. 
If the ground be at all lumpy, roll it before sowing the grass 
seed. As soon as the rye has come up sow two or three bushels 
of gypsum per acre. The chief object of the rye is to shade the 
young grass, should there be much hot weather. As soon as the 
rye begins to head, mow it all off with grass scythes, a foot or more 
liigh, letting it remain where it falls. If the rye be allowed to 
go to seed it will exhaust the fertility of the soil. Keep all stock 
off the grass that it may become well rooted. Should it attain 
a large growth by autumn, it may be fed off in part; but in 
jj^eneral it is best not to do so. 



152 THE YOUNG FARMERS MAXUAL. 

299. The next spring sow three or four bushels of gjpsuin 
per acre, and all the wood ashes leached or unleached that can 
be obtained, unless previously applied. If the grass be grazed 
off, it should not be fed very close to the ground. It is better to 
mow it, make hay, feed it to sheep or neat cattle, and return the 
manure as a top-dressing for two years. Then plow the usual 
depth with a common plow, following with the subsoil plow, and 
plant Indian corn one season, sow peas the next, and feed out 
most or all the crops to swine, sheep, or neat cattle, and make 
as much manure as practicable to return to the soil. The next 
season, if the soil be adapted to wheat, winter wheat may be 
sowed after peas, and the ground stocked down in autumn with 
timothy and the late kind of red clover; the next spring there 
will be a sufficient quantity of mould in the soil to commence a 
system of rotation of crops. The best soil should be kept near 
the surfiice. It would be bud management to plow such soil 
deep with a common plow, though the subsoil plow may, in very 
many instances, be used to advantage. 

RENOVATING FAUMS THAT HAVE B3EN IMPOVERISHED BYINJUD'CIOUS 
MANAGEMENT. 

300. This desirable object must be accomplished mainly by 
barn-yard manure, by grass, and by allowing the soil to rest. 
There are scores of once good farms, almost everywhere, that 
have been so impoverished by a long succession of exhausting crops 
that they will no longer return to the owner the expense of cul- 
tivation. In most instances such farms can be restored to their 
original fertility, if a correct system of management be adopted, 
in a few seasons, because they have been, as a general rule, too 
wet to produce large crops: and the proprietors have been so 
anxious to skim over a great number of acres that they could not, 
or have not, plowed deep, and therefore the fertility of the soil 
has not been so much exhausted as if it had been well drained 
and plowed deep. If the crops have all been carried off on some 
adjoining farm, the case is far worse than if they have been con- 
sumed on the farm, and large quantities of manure are lying 



THE YOUNG FAR^.IEP.'s MAXUAL. 153 

about the farm or in the ])arn-yard. When a farm is greatly 
impoverished, and there are ho heaps of manure, and no tiling at 
band to make manure of, the task and expense of bringing the 
soil to a degree of ordinary fertility will be attended with in- 
creased labor and expense, and a greater length of time. But it 
can be accomplished in due time by perseverance in a wise 
system of management. 

IMPORTANCE OF DRAINING. 

301. The first step, then, in renovating an iinpoverislied soil 
will be to drain the wet places; and, if the soil needs it, to go 
into a judicious system of thorough draining by cutting ditches 
parallel to each other, a given distance apart, over the entire 
farm. Thorough draining will lengthen the growing seasons ia 
localities wiiere tiiere is an excess of w^ater; and wet land that 
has been well drained will not require half as much manure of 
any k'nd to produce large crops as would be required without 
draining. Indeed, in many instances where land has been 
drained thoroughly, it will produce twice as much grass, or any 
kind of grain, ivithout manure, as some otiier portions of the same 
field will with a good supply of fertilizers yearly, and twice a? 
much more as that very soil has been wont to produc:) before it 
was drained. This proved true on my own farm; the l.ow places, 
in every field which had been well drained, would usually produce 
twice as much of any kind of crops as the higlier and drier por- 
tions, which received, every few years, a bountiful coating of 
manure. Draining all the wet places on a farm, and adopting a 
judicious system of thorough draining, is the very first step to- 
wards renovating an impoverished farm. All the manure in the 
kingdom of nature will not produce a large crop where the soil 
is thoroughly water-soaked and sodden, so that it rolls up, when 
plowed, more like a furrow of putty than a productive soil. 

COMPLETE PULVERIZATION OP THE SOIL. 

302. The second step is thorough pulverization. This must 
be accomplished, for the most part, with the common plow. 



154 THE YonNo farmer's manual. 

Mines of untold wealth lie slumbering beneath the impoverished 
Eoil, and it must be turned up in small quantities every season, 
and mingled with the soil, thoroughly pulverized. The soil must 
be plowed in a most thorough and farmerlike manner. It will 
not answer the contraet to set a little, inexperienced boy to 
plowing with a yoke of weak, poverty-stricken, straw-fed oxen, 
or with a spun of poor, ring-boned, chest-foundered, broken- 
winded horses, with some old worn-out plow. By no means. 
But a good plow is essential, and a strong and well-fed team, 
that will be able to move along steadily, and turn a deep furrow. 
(Read more about Thorough Pulverization of Soils in the next 
Chapter.) 

WAY TO IMPROVE PASTURES. 

303. The true way to improve a pasture is to plow it, and 
cultivate the soil for a few years, and apply a liberal dressing of 
barn-yard manure, or turn under a crop of red clover, and then 
sow about three or four bushels of Indian corn per aci-e, as soon 
as the clover has been plowed under, and turn that under before 
frost injures it; and then sow the ground with winter rye so late 
in the fall that it will not vegetate before the next spring, when 
the soil should be well seeded with three or four different kinds 
of grass seed which are adapted to the soil and to the locality. 
304. In case there is an excess of water in the soil, the first 
operation should always be to render it dry, by underdraining 
the wet portions of the field; or by adopting a system of 
thorough draining — making drains about two rods apart, over 
the entire field. Yery many fields require such a system of 
draining before they will produce as much good pasture as they 
are capable of producing. And every intelligent farmer knows 
that a bountiful crop of tender and sweet grass cannot be raised 
on a soil that is inclined to be wet. It is true that a tolerably 
fair crop of some kinds of grass may be raised where there is an 
excess of moisture; but by draining that same soil, and by bring, 
ing it into a better state of fertility by thorough pulverization 
and more or less manure, the quantity of grass may easily be 
doubled, and the quality very greatly improved. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 155 

305. In many parts of New England there are many acres of 
pasture which it is very desirable to improve without plowing 
the soil. These fields have been in grass for many successive 
years. And in many instances they have become " turf-bound/' 
as it is termed, which means that there is a thin mat of old, 
tough, dried-up roots and moss on the surface, which obstructs 
very much the luxuriant growth of young and tender grass. 
Such fields cannot be rendered productive, to their highest ca- 
pability, without inverting that tough sod, and bringing a new 
soil to the surface, thus starting a new system of roots and a 
new turf. But it may be very greatly improved in productive- 
ness. Therefore the 

WAY TO IMPROVE PASTURES WITHOUT PLOWING 

will be to top-dress the soil with fertilizers of some kind, and 
then give the surface a thorough harrowing, with the harrow 
teeth well sharpened. 

306. The character of the soil will be a good guide, in a 
measure, for determining what kind of fertilizers may be em- 
ployed most economically. On many of the sandy loams and 
silicious sands of New England there will be nothing superior to 
a dressing of ground bone, harrowed into the soil in autumn. In 
case the soil were not well turfed over, it would be better to 
defer the harrowing till spring. Then, after harrowing well, sow 
a few pounds of wliite clover seed, a few pounds of timothy, a 
few pounds of orchard grass seed, and a few pounds of Kentucky 
blue-grass seed, mingled together, making in the aggregate from 
four to six quarts of seed per acre. Perhaps red clover might 
take the place of some other seed. But the chief idea is to seed 
the land well with a kind of grass seed that will flourish well in 
that particular locality. In case ground bone be applied, it will 
he better to sow it before the soil has been harrowed, for the 
purpose of covering it slightly with earth, as a little moisture 
and heat will hasten the decomposition of the small fragments of 
bone; and the little roots will twine around these small particles, 
and absorb them as fast as the rain and heat will dissolve them. 



156 THE youNG farmer's manual. 

On some soils, ten or twenty bushels of lime per acre will be the 
best top-dressing that can be applied after harrowing and re- 
seeding witli grass seed. A few bushels of gypsum, also, mingled 
with wood ashes, will be a good dressing. In case, however, a 
farmer has a good quantity of barn-yard compost, well rotted, 
the most economical way will be to spread it evenly, late in 
autumn, and harrow it well in. Then, the next spring, sow grass 
seed of several difl'erent kinds, and harrow again. 

307. This system of management will usually insure a good 
crop of grass. But pastures treated in this manner should not 
be fed off until the middle of summer, or until the young grass is 
well rooted. And, sometimes, not a hoof should be allowed to 
go on the ground until autumn. If sheep or cattle be permitted 
to graze on such fields, just as the young grass begins to grow, 
their sharp teeth and hoofs will destroy it faster than it can 
grow. The grand reason why there are so many poor pasture 
fields in our country is, the grass is fed off too closely when it is 
very small. 

HOW GRASS LAND IS IMPOVERISHED, AND HOW IMPROVED. 

308. Chemists tell us, that in a ton of good hay there are 
one hundred and fifty pounds of mineral matter and twenty-five 
pounds of nitrogen, equivalent to forty six and a half pounds of 
ammonia, which is of great value in promoting the growth of grass 
or of any other crop. This mineral matter alluded to is com- 
posed of forty-three pounds of potash, twenty-five pounds of lime, 
and eight and a half pounds of phosphoric acid, besides several 
other ingredients not enumerated. Now, as these elements 
become scarce in the soil, the quantity of a crop will be diminished, 
unless special care be exercised to return to the soil an equivalent 
for the amount that has been carried away in the hay. The 
question naturally arises then, how can this be done in the most 
economical manner, so as to maintain the fertility of the soil ? 
There are several ways of doing it. But the farmer needs to un- 
derstand the most eccncmical way of performing a task so im- 
portant and desirable. One of these ways is, to supply the waste 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 15T 

by scattering ashes, lime, bone dust and gypsum over the meadow 
after every crop of hay has been removed. In this manner a 
meadow may be made to yield a heavy crop of grass every season 
for a long time. The ashes will furnish the necessary potash, as 
that in.fl^redient promotes the growth of grass very much, as may 
be proved by observing the rank and luxuriant growth of timothy 
or clover in the bed of a log heap, or where brush has been 
burned. A top dressing of bones and lime will supply the other 
ingredients that have been removed in the hay. Another way 
of maintaining the fertility of grass land is, by the application 
of guano or superphosphates, which contain all the elements of 
fertility which are necessary to secure a heavy crop of grass. 
These two ways are rather expensive modes of maintaining the 
fertility of grass land; but when the grass is all removed from 
the farm, either in a green state or in hay, one or the other must 
be resorted to, unless the proprietor has access to peat, marl, 
or a stable manure. Still another way of maintaining the ferti- 
lity of grassland is by barn-yard manure and home-made com- 
post. This is the most economical, and in fact the true way for 
farmers in general to keep their meadows and pastures in a good 
state of productiveness. By saving with care all the manure that 
can be made from animals while they are consuming a ton of hay; 
by mingling a little muck with the manure, and by feethng some 
grain and oil meal, and applyiug the' manure judiciously, the 
quantity of grass per acre may be increased a little from year 
to year, for years to come. 

MANAGEMENT OP PASTURE LANDS ON DAIRY FARMS. 

309. The management of pasture lands on dairy farms will be 
different with unlike soils. Broken and uneven surfaces, hard to be 
tilled — hill-sides, v/here the surface lies near the rock — thin or 
sandy soils — it is evident must be studied as to their character, and 
treated according to the peculiar circumstances or difficulties that 
may surround each. Lands natural to grass — and these embrace 
a greater portion of the clays and shales — produce p...8tni-a'^e, 
year after year continuously, if properly attended to; and would 



158 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL, 

often be injured for pasture by plowing and reseeding. It is an 
erroneous impression that newly seeded meadows, producing large 
yields of one or two kinds of grass for hay, would, if turned to 
pasturage, be equal to good old pastures for grazhig milch cows. 

310. When pastures fail and become foul, and the grass 
scanty and poor, they need breaking up; and will be vastly im- 
proved by thorough cultivation. But the practice common with 
some, of breaking up large fields of good clean, sweet sod, which 
perhaps may have been a trifle injured by the too close cropping 
for a season, in order to raise grain for a few years, and fre- 
quently, too, without the application of manures, is believed to be 
pernicious on dairy farms. 

311. We have seen rich, old pastures, solid in growth and 
yielding largely, plowed up for the reason that a good crop of 
corn was wanted, and that particular field seemed best suited to 
the purpose. It did produce good grain crops; but after being 
got back again into grass, the annual yield was very much less 
than on the old turf. 

312. In the treatment of oil pasture lands, injured from close 
cropping, but not wholly run out, it will generally be better not 
to bretik up, but to leave them for a part of the season to resus- 
citate, running a harrow over the ground in early spring, and 
sowing a mixture of timothy, blue grass, red top, the clovers, 
red and white, and orchard grass, making an application of 
plaster, pulverized bones, ashes, salt, or other stimulating fetilizers. 
Ashes, leached or otherwise, remove mosses, and are a valuable 
application to grass lands. 

313. There are pastures in Herkimer county, N. Y., which 
have not been broken for more than forty years — many that have 
never been ploughed perhaps but once or twice, years ago, when 
the country was new, that are yielding an abundance of nutritious 
food, enduring year after year close cropping and drought, 
without any perceptible injury or tendency to run out, and yet 
have rccived no top-dressings beyond the usual application from 
time to time of gypsum. The grass on these lands springs up 
green and fresh, with thick fine bottom, a marked contrast 



THE YOUNG FARJIER's MANUAL. 159 

throughout the season to occasional patches on the same soil 
recently re-seeded. To plow and cultivate such lands would be 
to destroy the original grasses; and after re-seeding, many years 
must intervene before the new grasses can obtain that firm pos- 
session of the soil and the enduring vigor and variety of the old 
sod. 

BEST KINDS OF GRAIN FOR DAIRY FARMS. 

314. A farmer must be so well acquainted with the character 
of his soil — for dairy purposes — that he may be said to know of a 
certainty whether it will be best to plow up a pasture field, or not. 
Farmers are very often deceived with reference to the productive- 
ness of old pastures and old meadows. I have known farmers to 
refuse to plow up some old pasture or old meadow when it did 
not yield half a crop of grass, because they were such great stick- 
ers for old pastures. But after a dairy farmer has decided, 
deliberately and understandingly, to plow up a certain pasture 
or meadow, the first crop most profitable for the dairyman will 
be Indian corn, since the stalks, properly cured, make the best of 
fodder, and the whole crop can be turned to good account for 
stock. With the second crop, re-seed. It is beUeved to be poor 
policy for the dairyman to exhaust his land by keeping it long 
under the plow, and in the raising of grain before putting down 
to grass. It is here that great mistakes are made; for the loss 
sustained by running the land to obtain several successive crops, 
will, in the end, prove to be much greater than is connuonly sup- 
posed. From this cause, often lies the secret of poor meadows 
and sickly pastures. The soil has been overtasked, and needs 
rest and nursing until it has gained heart to make ample returns. 
Two crops of grain, at most, are all that good management would 
seem to authorize to be taken in succession from the soil, if the 
land afterward is intended to be employed profitably in grass. 

315. The great object in view will be to make permanent 
pasture or meadow; and thus by taking a few acres at a time;, 
thoroughly manuring and cultivating it, the work is accomplished 
in that piece for years. A farm under this system may in a few 



IGO THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

years be bronglit up to a high state of fertility, and easily 
111 aiiitai lied and increased in its fruitfuhiess without breaking 
in upon the main business of the dairy. This course is to be 
preferred to that of disposing of the stock, [ilowing up large por- 
tions of the farm at once, and then getting it back again to grass; 
for only a few acres at a time can, with economy, be properly 
manured ; and the work will not generally be performed in 
that thorough manner, as when the attention is directed to a 
more gradual, but surer, improvement of the soil. In re-seeding 
some attention will be needed to have a greater variety of grasses 
than is commonly employed for putting down pasture and meadow 
lands. It has been shown that in rich old natural pastures, from 
Avelve to twenty distinct species are found in the sod, and that 
:he number of plants to the square foot is greater when there are 
several kinds intermixed. Many years ago it was considered 
^ood economy for the farmer to produce on his farm nearly every 
article needed to supply his wants. More recently, the tendency 
has been to make one or two articles leading staples in certain 
localities, as productive of more wealth than the mixed farming 
of former years. 

316. Some difference of opinion exists, among dairymen, 
in reference to grain raising, many insisting that all the grain 
needed should be grown on the farm in connection with dairy 
farming. Our best dairymen, however, do not generally advocate 
the system, beyond what is necessitated from a judicious rotation 
of crops. Flour, therefore, and much of the grain fed to cattle, 
are imported from grain growing districts. Meadows and pas- 
tures that need breaking up and re-seeding from time to tune 
will be employed in grain raising; but to break up a good pas- 
ture or meadow that is yielding well, for the purpose of "plow 
land," or getting a crop of grain, is believed to be poor policy. 
Wheat and oats, at best, are not the most profitable crops in 
dairy districts, and can generally be purchased cheaper than raised, 

317. II will be well to have some system of rotation, adapted 
to the soil and farm under cultivation, thus l)ringing every 
part of the farm into grass again, at intervals of 10 or 15 years. 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 161 

If five acres of sod be broken yearly, and five acres be put down 
to grass, ten acres will be annually under the plow; which, for 
one hundred acres, would give meadows of ten years' standing. 
Under such a system it will be seen, the land could be thoroughly 
cultivated and enriched, and made to produce large returns 
both in grain and grass. 



162 THE YOUXO farmer's ilAXUAI 



CHAPTER III. 

PLOWS AND rLOWING. 

" The plowman comes, beliiml his smoking team! 
Clear the brown path to meet tie mould-boards' gleam. 
Matted and dense, the tangled turf upheaves, 
Mellow and dark the ridgy '■orn-field cleives. 
Through the moist valley, clogged with stubborn clay, 
The patient plowman breaks his destined way." 

318. In Yol. I. I penned a Chapter on Plows and Plowing, 

in Avhicli the subject was discussed {;r:istically, or as an art, and 
the reader is referred to that cliapter for instructions in selecting: 
plows — how to adjust, how to hold, how to plow a field by 
commencing in the middle of it and finishing at the outside, and 
the technicalities in plowing. But in this chapter the subject 
will be discussed scientifically, or with reference to its import- 
ance, and its effects on the crops that the soil [)rodnces. 

319. Plowing is a mechanical operation, or, in other words, 
it is the act of effecting a change in the mechanical condition of 
the soil. (S^e the diiference between Mechanical and Chemical 
stated, Paragraph 2, Ciiapter I.) Plowing, spading, harrowing, 
rolling, and pulverizing the soil in any way, by means of tools 
and implements, is the act of preparing it, mechanic.illy, for the 
ciiemical changes and operations that must occur in the forma- 
tion and production of plants. A farmer, with his teams and 
implements of husbandry, is required to perform the mechanical 
part of raising crops, and of making beef, mutton, pork, and 
wool; and nature performs the chemical part. And just in pro- 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 163 

portion to the thoroughness of the manner in which the me- 
clianical part has been performed, will nature perform the 
cliemical part. A farmer cannot do the chemical part of raising 
crops, if he were disposed to attempt it. And nature will not 
perform the mechanical part of plowing and sowing, and reaping 
and mowing. 

WHY DO WE PLOW ? 

320 Were we to interrogate a thousand farmers, " Why do 
^ve plow ?" the answer would probably be, " For the purpose of 
rendering the soil more mellow and porous." This is correct 
as far as it goes; but the chief object is, to reduce the soil to 
its greatest degree of fineness, or comminution of particles, 
mcchanicaUy, so that the rain, or water applied by hand, may 
readily change the elements of fertiUty in the soil from a solid 
to'a fluid, in which state only those elements are available as food 
for plants of any and every kind. Therefore by reducing the soil 
very fine, by some mechanical operation, such as plowing its 
solidity is, in a measure, overcome or destroyed, and the roots of 
plants find little hindrance in ramifying throughout the entire 
mass that has been broken up. And. if the roots and little 
spongioles occupy the entire soil, the ten thousand mouths of 
these roots are ever open to drink in those substances which 
will promote the growth of the plant. On the contrary, if a 
large proportion of the soil is in the form of lumps, or is turned 
over in furrow slices of an unbroken mass, the soil is not in the 
best, or even in good condition, to promote the growth of these 
plants that occupy it. 

321. Now the idea is, in plowing, to use those plows that will 
brciik up the solidity of the soil most thoroughly and effectually. 
Turning the soil upside down, as if it were a huge slab of earth, 
does not accom[)lish the desired purpose, as its solidity is not de- 
stroyed, except in a very limited degree. Every observing farmer 
knows that when calcareous and aluminous soils are not too wet, 
nor too dry, if they are plowed with a kind of plow that leaves 
the furrow slice on its edge, the pulverization will be about as 
thorough and complete as it caij be made with a comoioii plow; 



1G4 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

whereas if such soil be plowed when there is only a little too 
much moisture, or not quite enough, pulveriz ition is only partially 
efFccted; and, consequently, it is not possible that the crop 
should be as great as it would be had the pulverization been 
more complete. 

322. The tbllowijig remarks from the Genesee Farmer show 
very clearly soma of the more important reasons to which the 
above question refers: 1. We plough to bury the weeds, grass, 
and other vegetation. 2. We plow to loosen and pulverize the 
land. All soils, but especially those of a clayey nature, have a 
tendency to consolidate, and soon become too firm and compact 
for tlie tender, hair-like roots of young [)lants to enter. The soil 
may contain all the plant-food required, but if it is so hard that 
the roots cannot penetrate, it will be of no avail. It is locked up. 
Plowing is the key that milocks the storehouse. The plow is 
inferior to the spade, because it does not break up and pulverize 
the soil so thoroughly. If we had a digging machine that could 
be worked by horses or steam — as we undoubtedly shall have 
before many years — it would soon supersede the plough. 

323. We plough to let in the sun and air. In nearly all soils 
there is a large amount of inert organic matter which could be 
rendered available plant-food by fermentation or decomposition. 
This is accelerated by the admission of air. Like water, air will 
penetrate all porous bodies. Large lumps of sugar are long in 
dissolvuig, because the water has access only to the outside; but 
crush it, and let the water get at its particles, and they are dis- 
solved with great rapidity. So of the soil; if it is in lumps the 
air cannot get at it; but loosen it, and render it porous by plow- 
ing, harrowing, rolling, and the air will ba brought in contact 
with the particles of organic matter and decom})ose them. It 
will also disintegrate the inorganic matter of the soil, and render 
more or less of it available as food for plants. It must not be 
forgotten that the roots of plants need air, as it contains ammonia 
and carbonic acid; and it is a well-known fact that porous bodies 
will attract those gases. 

32-i. Most soils, also, contain substances which have a 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MAXUAL. 165 

chemical affinity for ammonia. Prof. Way says: "I find that 
clay is so greedy of ammonia that, if air charged with carbonate 
of ammonia, so as to be highly pungent, is passed through a 
tube filled with fragments of dry clay, every particle of the gas 
(ammonia) is arrested." Of course, the more such soils are 
stirred the more their particles are exposed to the air, the more 
ammonia can they absorb from the atmosphere. This power of 
soils to attract ammonia from the atmosphere is one principal 
cause of the well-known benefit of summer fallowinsr. 

325. We plough to incorporate manure with the soil. The 
more thoroughly this is done the better. The carbonic acid 
generated by the decomposition of humus has a good effect in 
disintegrating the mineral matter in the soil. The soil may be 
regarded as a stomach, in which the food of plants is digested and 
rendered assimilable. It is important, therefore, that the manure 
should be well mixed with the soil. We plough (in the fall) to 
expose the soil to the pulverizing action of the frost in winter; 
to disturb the eggs and larva of insects, and expose them to cold. 

THOROUGH PULVERIZATION OF THE SOIL. 

326. As a general rule, farmers are not fully awake to the 
importance of having the entire soil reduced to a fine powder. 
Hard lumps of earth, even when they are full of grain-producing 
substances, are of but little more value in producing a crop than 
the same amount of stones. The roots of plants cannot enter 
hard lumps of earth; and before such Limps can be of any real 
benefit to plants, they must be broken down, mechanically, with 
some implement, or be dissolved by rain. In order to appreciate 
the importance of thorough pulverization of the soil, we need to 
have a little smattering of the theory of " vegetable nutrition.'' 

327. '' How do plants grow ? How does the hard soil and 
dry manure become changed into plants of any kind ?" These are 
important questions which every farmer should understand well, 
and then he would be able to appreciate the importance of more 
complete and thorough pulverization of every kind of soil. Xo 
soil or manure can promote the growth of a plant — except me- 



166 THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 

chanically — until after it has been dissolved by rain or water 
and reduced to a liquid. Dry earth or dry manure cannot enter 
the roots of plants. Roots of grain, gra'ss, and trees feed upon 
nothing but liquid or fluid. When we apply bonedust to plants, 
rainwater must first dissolve the little fragments of bone and 
carry tlioni along, where they will be taken up by the thousand 
moutlis in the little roots of the plants. So with the hard soil 
and hard lumps of earth; they must be reduced to a fine powder, 
by some mechanical operation, and then the rain will dissolve 
the fine particles, thus forming a fluid, which is the food of 
plants. When the soil is very lumpy the atmosphere has but a 
small surface, comparatively, to act upon ; therefore plants grow 
slowly where the entire soil is one complete clod or is little else 
but lumps. 

PULVERIZATION OF HEAVY SOILS IMPRACTICABLE IF TOO W^ET. 

328. When there is an excels of water in heavy soih, it is 
utterly impracticable to reduce them to fine tilth with plows and 
harrows. They may be rendered somewhat fine by cutting and 
tearing them to pieces; but they cannot be pulverized any more 
than one can pulverize a batch of dough. When a heavy soil is 
filled with water instead of air, the more it is plowed or har- 
rowed the more compact it will be when the surplus water has 
dried out. Sandy soils may be plowed and harrowed in some 
instances without injury when they are quite wet; but heavy 
soils must be sufficiently dry to crumble readily when worked, or 
it will be impossible to reduce them to that degree of fineness 
Avhich is essential for the roots of plants to spread through them. 
If a handful of heavy soil, in which there is not an excess of 
water, be worked with the hands, it will crumble; but when so 
wet that it will knead like dough, the more it is worked the 
harder it will be when it comes to dry, and the less suitable its 
condition to promote the growth of plants. When a heavy soil, 
just dry enough to crumble well, is plowed with narrow furrow 
slices or spaded finely, it will be about one-fourth deeper than it 
was before it was plowed. On the contrary, if plowed when so 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 16T 

wet as to knead and not crumble, it will settle down at once to 
the same bulk or depth that it had before it was worked. 

329. The first thing to be done then toward a thorough 
pulverization of heavy soils is to drain them. The next is to 
plow in autumn and apply barn-yard manure; then, in order to 
increase the quantity of vegetable mould, and keep them light 
and friable, to raise crops of red clover or Indian corn, to be 
plowed under when green. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DEEP PLOWING. 

330. The editor of the Agricultural Review writes under this? 
caption: " There was a time when the cultivated soil was merely 
scraped, when the ponderous plow drawn by four horses laid bare 
the earth but a few inches below the surface. But the memory 
of the * oldest inhabitant ' hardly goes back to that easy going 
time, and now manufacturers successively out-do each other in 
the production of implements by which the soil is thoroughly and 
deeply pulverized. That deep plowing is beneficial to the soil 
is admitted by every intelligent farmer; but the particular soil 
most benefitted by it, and the proper time for the performance 
of the operation, are subjects on which a variety of opinion pre- 
vails. Stiff clay soils are the most benefitted by deep plowing, 
and the results are still more satisfactory when the subsoil is of 
the same nature as the supersoil. If the farmer cannot extend 
the superficial area of his farm, he can, at least, add the cubical 
contents of its productive portion. By thoroughly breaking up 
the subsoil, it is exposed to the action of the air; the mineral 
food of the plants becomes liberated from its latent state and 
made available, and the sourness, which is a frequent property 
of the subsoils, disappears. In the working of stiff soils, the 
labor expended in pulverizing will be highly productive; but care 
should be taken that the quantity of subsoil brought to the sur- 
face is not greater than a winter's frost is sufficient thoroughly to 
disintegrate. If the land has been recently drained, and the 
underlying soil exhibits a bluish tint, not more than one and a 
half inches should be turned over on the surface soil. If too 



1G8 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

large a qnantity of the infertile subsoil be brouglit up, the fertil- 
ity of the land may be seriously impaired for several years. The 
remedy in this case is the repeated and careful tillage of the sur- 
face soil, and the abundant application of manure. If, however, 
the subsoil be merely broken up by the subsoil plow or spade, 
and not brought in quantity to the surface, the pulverization may 
be advantageously made to extend to a much greater depth, and 
small portions may from time to time be brought to the surface 
in the course of tillage. Deep cultivation is inapplicable in the 
case of sandy soils, except when they rest upon a stiff subsoil, 
which, however, is rarely the case. If there be simply a. thin 
strata of stiff clay beneath the sandy soil, it should not always 
be broken through, as it may prevent the moisture passing away 
too rapidly as drainage. When friable soil rests on chalk, gravel 
or sand, deep plowing should not be performed; neither is the 
operation desirable, but the reverse is the case on any kind of 
highly manured land. We have often known the manure to be 
plowed in so deeply that its decomposition took place only after 
the lapse of several years. Manure, to be efficient, must be as 
close to the surface as possible, in order that atmospheric iufla- 
ences may decompose it speedily, and that the nourishment 
afforded by it may be within easy access of the rootlets of the 
plants. The proper season for deep plowing is in the autumn, 
in order that the soil may be exposed to the winter's frosts and 
rains — those potent agents by which the dormant elements of 
fertility are set free and made available for the sum:ner's crop." 

DEEP VS. SHALLOW CULTIVATION. 

331. A few years since an eminent farmer penned the fol- 
lowing thoughts, with reference to plowing in Europe and 
America : " 1 am sorry to be obliged to state, that in my 
opinion, formed from observation, four inches (solid) is still the 
full average depth of the agricultural pie-crast in which plants 
are to grow whose roots would, if permitted, descend many feet." 
We question if the " agricultural pie-crust" of Canada is any 
deeper on the average, and though it yields a large supply of 



THE YOUNG FIMIEr's MANUAL. 169 

food for man and beast, let it not be forgotten that there is 
something Mow the crust, which is capable of adding immensely 
to that supply. In point of fact, nearly every farmer in the coun- 
try has a second farm, of the possession of which he lives in total 
ignorance — a new farm under the old one. Farms not only lie 
side by side, but in layers, and if the rage for hroad acres could 
be displaced for deep acres, the amount of soil under cultivation 
might soon be doubled. 

332. The objects of plowing are chiefly these: to pulverize 
the soil so that the air can get into it, and the roots of plants find 
their way through it; to mingle the different portions of it as 
thoroughly as possible; to cover manures; to kill weeds, and to 
keep the surface open and fresh. By bringing fresh portions of 
earth to the surface, moisture is attracted from the air, and along 
with moisture various fertilizing gases are absorbed. By keep- 
ing the pores of the land, so to speak, open, this process goes oa 
more thorouglily than it can do if the surface is suffered to grow 
hard and stiff. Beep plowing extends these benefits to a greater 
depth. It opens a larger proportion of the soil to the beneficial 
action of air and moisture, and furnishes a more roomy bed for 
plant roots, and a more capacious store-house for plant-food. It 
has, to some extent, the same effect as draining. It carries off 
more or less of the surface water, warms the soil, and renders it 
more easy of cultivation. Land thus tilled is not so soon ex- 
hausted. The roots of grain, by penetrating farther, take firmer 
hold, and the stocks are less liable to give way and lodge. 

383. It also saves labor. It is less work to raise thirty 
bushels of wheat from one acre than from two or three, to say 
nothing of the zest and pleasure connected with getting a large 
instead of a small yield. Deep culture is especially important in 
the growth of root crops. Those who have only a four inch 
" pie-crust" to operate upon, have little idea of the size to which 
turnips, mangolds, carrots, &c., will attain when they have am- 
ple range in a rich soil. Rev. Mr. Smith, of Lois Weedon, one 
of the most noted agriculturists of the present day, gets his rows 
of Swedes to "sh;ike hands" by their leaves atjivefict intervals. 
8 



170 THE YOUNG FAJRMI-:R*S MANUAL. 

lie plows back all his top-soil, and havln:^ thus laid bare the 
poor siib?oII, puts manure into it until tOj)soil and subsoil are a'ike 
rich. Dr. Dixon, of Kivenhall, once pulled up a parsnip with 
a vertical root thirteen feet six inches lonj^, besides a further 
piece left by its breaking off. This was in a bank of earth 
twenty feet deep, that fell over loosely when excavated. The 
roots of strawberry plants, grnpe-vines, etc, have been known to 
descend several feet in search of food and moisture. The exposure 
of a cold, barren subsoil to the action of the atmospliere without 
the addition of manure, will, in due time, render it capable of pro- 
ducing a crop. How great, then, musi be the advantage of both 
loosening it up and dressing it lil)erally with dung. 

334. Gardeners understand this. A four -inch "pie-cnist" 
will not raise choice vegetables. Hence the land is trenched to 
the depth of a couple of feet, or at least doublc-^paded, and 
manure worked in at a rate that seems almost v\^asteful, yet it is 
the very best economy of land, labor and money. V/liy should 
not the farm be as deeply tilled as the garden ? The reply pro- 
bably is, because of the expense. The objection would lie if we 
wore confined to slow hand labor with the spade. But the same 
result can be attained by the use of team and i)low. These are 
inadmissible to gardens because of the limited space for turning 
and working, and also because there are trees, plants, walks, etc., 
that would be injured by this mode of culture. But in the open 
field, team and plow can get down as deeply as the spade. There 
are two modes by which greater depth ot tillage can be attained. 
One is by deeper plowing with an ordinary surface plow, and the 
other by the use of the subsoil plow. Tiie surface plow driven 
deeper down, throws in the furrow made by the other, and simply 
tears up and loosens the hard-pan. It stirs and mixes up what 
is under the pie-crust." 

335. The change from shallow to deep plowing muit be made 
gradually when it is accomi)lished with the common plow, put 
in more deeply, and maimre sufficient to enrich wiiat is thrown 
up from beneath must be applied. An inch at a time may be 
taken until by successive dcepoiiijigs the plow can be driven to 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 171 

the depth of niiio or ten inches. Tlie sul)Soil plow — an imple- 
ment almost unknown in this country — will effect gradual deep- 
ening of the soil without throwing the broken hard pan to the 
surface. By loosening the subsoil so that the air can penetrate 
it, it wiil soon improve and be assimilated to the topsoil. S tronger 
implements and heavier teams will be needed- for the deeper cul- 
tivation we are urging; but the results in heavier crops will sooa 
justify and reward the outlay. 

PULVERIZING AGENTS. 

336. The plow, the harrow, cultivator, roller, clod crusher, 
hoes, and all other implements, never impart any fertility to soils, 
nor take any from them. They are only a means for accomplish- 
ing an end. Z. A. Leland writes on this subject: " Much, in 
farming, depends on pulverization. By pulverization I do not 
mean stirring with the plow, drag, &c., for that does not reduce 
the particles of the soil. 1 know of but two effective agents for 
that purpose — the frost and fermentation by fresh manures. The 
frost will reduce the lime and clay gravel, and pulverize the earth. 
Hard freezing will improve the land, although it may injure the 
winter crop. Then, by applying fresh or coarse manure, and 
plowing the same deep under, make the corn-field the compost 
bed; stir it during the summer on the surface, but by no means 
mix it up with the manure for the first year. The gas rising will 
make the laud meilow and porous if not pulverized, so that it 
will remain an absorbing soil for many years, and stand the 
drought well. I have found the decided effect the eighth year." 

337. Whether the growth of vegetation depends more upon 
absorption or evaporation is not easily answered; yet no doubt 
a free friendly commerce between the earth and atmosphere is 
generally useful, although, at certain times, a prohibitory duty by 
way of mulching may benefit the plants. The practical point we 
arr've at is, finally, how to render slightly absorbent soil more 
absorbent. The answer is, 1st, by increasing its own depth and 
Hneness; and 2d, by incorporating with it a highly absorbent 
material. Tillage answers the first iicdication. Stirring the soil, 



112 THR YOUNG FARMEIlV, MANUAL. 

breaking the crust, relieving the compactness into which it 
naturally passes when left at rest, are obviously indirect means of 
feeding the plant. Green manuring, dressing with swamp muck 
and composts, which contain much vegetable matter in the state 
of humus, are the most effectual amendments to the soil, and are 
applicable to all soils, whatever be their character or sitaatlon. 
By the liberal use of a compost of stable manure with swam[) 
muck, effects have been produced in Connecticut which are almost 
miraculous. I have seen a field, that orighially was part of a 
plain, covered with a coarse gravelly sand, gray, hot and hungry, 
in two years converted into a dark, rich, moist soil, on which 
luxuriant crops stood and matured in seasons so adverse that the 
adjoining fields were completely dried up. 

HOW TO DO DIFFERENT KINDS OF PLOWING. 

338. A portion of the following pai igraphs were penned by 
the writer for the American Agriculturist, and some of the il- 
lustrations were prepared by an artist under his supervision, and 
others were obtained of Ames' Plow Company, Boston, Mass. 
There are four ways of plowing sod ground in common use, known 
as '' lapped furrow slices, flat furrow slices, trenchhig, and round 
furrow slices." The two first are performed with the common plow, 
w^hile tlie second may be done with the common or douljle plow, 
and the third is accomplished exclusively with the Michigan sod 
plow, or with one similar to the cylinder plow, an illustration of 
w1lc!i is given on a subsequent page. 

now TO PLOW with lappfd furrow slices. 

339. Tiiis operation is illustrated by figure 1, in which the 
slice is shown as it would appear if the plow were withdrawn 
from the furrow, slices being about 12 inches wide, 7 deep, and 
lapping about 3 inches. The illustration shows the third slice 
in the process of turning. To turn lapped furrow slices, if the 
team be horses, adjust the traces so that the whiflle-trees will 
ju^t clear their heels when the team is turning round. Change 
the land pin, dial clevis, or the index of the hind end of the plow 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



173 



beam, whicliover may be altaclierl, until the plow will run level 
and true dircct]y after the team. The first furrow will necessarily 







LAPPED FURROW SLICES. 



be turned flat. In turning the second, drive tlie team close to 
the last furrow slice and lean the plow handles to the left until 
the furrow wslice will just lap a little, say not more than an inch 
on the one turned first. If the double whiffl3tree or " evener" 
be more than thirty-two inches from the middle to the point 
where the single whiffletrees are attached to it, it will be better 
to shorten it, as it is impossible to make some plows run right 
by adjusting the clevis, if the double whiffletrca is a little too 
Jong, When the double whiffletree or ox yoke is too long, and 
the plow is adjusted to cut a furrow slice eleven or twelve inches 
wide, it must move more or less sidewise, which mikes it hoi.l 
harder or draw harder. 

340. After one rc-;md has been plowad, the plow must be 
adjusted very gradually to cut a little wider or narrower, deeper 
or more shallow, as may be required to lap the last furrow ilc.} 
about tlu-ce inches on the other. The plow should always be held 
as erect as practicable. If the furrow slice be left standing too 
much on its lower edge, the plow must be adjusted to run more 
shallow until it will turn the slice just right, or it must be made 



174 THE YOUNTx FARMEr's MANUAL. 

to cut a wider slice and of the mme dcptli, in order to turn well. 
Tlie form of the plow will alwavs determine which of these ways 
may be ado[)ted. If the mould-board be of such a form as is not 
calculated for turning deep furrows, the plow must be adjusted to 
run more sh.allow, and to cut narrower, until it will turn the slices 
in the desired position. It is always essential, when plowing sod 
ground, eitiier with lapped or flat furrow slices, to have the plow 
cut a certai i depth and width in order to turn well, which must 
be determined by the form of the mould board. The most de- 
sirable form of a plow for turning lapped furrow slices is wide 
at the base, and proportionately narrow at the top of the mould 
board,* with a sharp coulter, a broad and sharp wing on the 
point, for cutting the fiu'row slices entirely loose. 

341. F. HoLBRooK says: ** This is a style of plowing much 
practised in Great Britain, and in some sections of our country 
where the soil is a stiff clay. As the cut shows, there is a little 
air space or drain under each furrow slice, and the projecting 
angles of the surface of the plowed land present the stiff clay soil 
favorably to the action of the harrow or other surface-working 
instrument, for the raising of a line tilth or mellow seed-bed. To 
execute this mode of plowing in a perfect style, the furrow slices 
must not be cut more than one-third wider than they are deep, 
for if they are they will not stand at a steep enough inclination, 
or rather at an angle of forty-five degrees, which is the best in- 
clination. The usual proportions of furrow slice among iinished 
plowmen are about 6 by 9 and 7 by 10 inches. For a new 
country, where the laud has not yet become cleared of obstruc- 
tions, nor its surface much smoothed, this is a difficult style of 
plowing to execute well; and, indeed, it is better adapted to an 
old than a new country. For plowing more than seven inches 
deep, the sod and subsoil style of plowing is preferable, even in 
clay land, being easier of good execution, lighter in draught, and 
requiring ICoS width of slice than even the lapped style, and 
therefore making a finer tilth of the clay." 

342. I have always found in plowing sod with a common 
plow and lapped furrow slices that the plowing could be done a 



THE YOUNCx farj:::rs manual. 



115 



little better to have the wing of the share so narrow that it 
would not cut olF the slice by about two inches. This two inches 
tends to keep the slice from being crowded so far into the previous 
furrow that it would not turn well. I find there is not a little 
difficulty, after all that has been ponned, in giving suitable di- 
rections for a beginner to enable hira to plow well, without 
several years of practice. It would be loss difficult to handle the 
plow than the pen in this matter. A man needs to practise 
several years bofore he can be called a good plowman. 

TLOWING WITH A DOUBLE PLOW. 

343. Plows with which work resembling the accompanying 
illustration is done, are familiarly known as Michigan or Double 




DOUBLE FUEEOW SLICES. 



Plows. They include all those plows which have a small plow 
attached to the beam in front of a large one, and are or should 
be used only in deep soil. The engravings illustrate the working 
of these plows when cutting a slice about as deep as wide. The 
little plow or skim, as it is appropriately termed, cuts a slice of 
turf about half the width of the furrow and turns it over flat 
Jaying two grass sides together as in C. Then the large plow 



176 TJIE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

attacliod to the same beam follows, turning this double section of 
sod nearly in the bottom of the previous furrow, dropping it 
nearly on the edge, as shown at D, and covering it with pulver- 
ized soil E, several inclies deep. When a proportionally wider 
furrow is plowed, the same effect takes place, but with less re- 
gularity. If, however, the slice cut is so narrow that the skim 
slice is turned off into the furrow F, then the sod is buried flat 




CEOSS SECTION OF FUEROV.'S. 



in the bottom of the furrow. Thus used, tliese plows are very 
useful in a sort of trench-plowing, where it i.s desirable to bury 
the top soil, or a dressing of manure, 12 inches or more beneath 
tlie surface. The top of the soil may be quite deeply and tho- 
roughly woiliL'd without stirring the cods or manure. 

now TO TURN FLAT FURROW SLICES. 

344. The " flat furrow slice" involves a complete inversion of 
the sod, as shown in the next figure, which is particularly desirable 
on light loamy soils. For turning flat furrow slices-, the plow 
should be adjusted as for any other plowing, except the coulter 
should be set so as to cut under a little instead of straight down; 
and the clevis must be set so that the plow wiil cut not quite wide 
enough when the handles are held erect. In plowing, the handles 
must be inclined more or less to the right. A plow having a nar- 
row base and broad at the top of the mould board is desirable. 
The width of the farrow slices must be greater in proportion to 
the depth, especially when turned with certain plows. With 
gome plows it is quite difficult to turn a flat furrow, while with 
others, cither flat or hipped slices may be turned as described. 



TITl^ YOUXr. FArAIF.n'S AfAXUAL. 171 

When a plow runs seven or eight inches deep in order to turn 
the slices flat, it must cut from fourteen to sixteen inches wide. 




FLAT FTTKROW SLICES. 



A skillful plowman will soo:i learn how to a Ijiist to tarn a flat 
slice. But where it is desirable to plow mucli land with flat 
furrow slices, a plow sliould b3 obtained that isboLter adapted to 
turning flat than lapped furrows. 

345. F. HoLBRook writes on the subject of turning flit fur- 
row slices: "For the breaking up of bushy, rooty, or uneven 
pastures, or any other grass land, when there are too many ob- 
structions, or the surface is too rough, or the sod is too stiff 
and rooty with wild or swamp grasses for the safe and effective 
use of the double plow, the single or flat-furrowed greensward 
plowing is the better style. The accompanying cut sliows at a 
glance the proper flexure and movement of the greensward flat- 
furrow slice. For pericct plowing, with the lightest practicable 
8* 



178 THE YOUNG FARMkr's MANUAL. 

drnft upon the team, tlie furrow slice should have an exact ma- 
thematical curvature and equality of twist throughout its entire 
passage over — as is represeiited in the cut. It should be the ef- 
fort and pride of the plowman to bo able to adjust his line of 
draft, or his hitch to the plow, so as to have it meet the pe- 
culiarities of the movement of the team — no two teams hardly 
ever drawing a plow exactly aiiko — 30 that his jilow will readily 
take the precise right depth and width of the furrow, and hold 
easily in it, and so that he can perfectly and instantly control or 
vary the bias of the plow, to meet the peculiar lay of the land 
anywhere, and bring the farrow slice over handsomely into its 
place, and preserve the perfection of his furrows. These little 
tricks and arts of the true plowman's trade should be learned by 
every one who pretends to hold a break-up plow; end surely no 
good farmer can consider them beneath his attainment. For 
your rough or unsubdued sod land, you will do well to jilow the 
flat sod i'urrow, using a plow of sulhcient strength and capacity 
for a team of four horses or oxen, wiiea required, and carrying a 
depth of furrow 8 to 10 inches in good style. 

TRENCU PLOWING. 

346. Trench plowing is frequently spoken of as subsoiling, 
and vice versa. But trench plowing is not subsoiling ; neither is 
subsoiling trench plowing. Many farmers, when they have plowed 
deep, turning up a few inches of the subsoil, have su})poscd tliey 
were subsoiling. The accompanying illustration will furnish a 
very correct idea of trench plowing. A thin sod is removed by 
a skim plow forward of the main plow on the same beam, and 
laid np side down in the bottom of the furrow; while the soil 
ten or more inches below the surface is turned up to the light of 
the sun and the influence of the atmosphere. (See Subsoiling 
Defined, paragraph 304.) 

347. Mooreh Rural New Yorker says, on this subject: " Ex- 
perienced farmers often assert that they have tried suljsoiling 
land, and instead of good effects following, the result seemed to 
indicate an injury. Not long since a farmer was detailing his 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 



179 



experience, and asserted his disbelief in the good effects of subsoil 
plowing in very emphatic terms. He had tried it, and his crop 








had failed the season following every experiment. He was 
astonished when we told him we did not believe he had ever 
used a subsoil plow in his life; he was slightly indignant. Did 
we believe he would lie about it ? No, but he evidently did not 
know the difference between subsoil and trench plowing. We 
ex|)lained to him the difference, and he seemed satisfied that he 
knew ranch less about subsoil plowing than he thought he did. 

348 This subject has been frequently brought to our notice; 
and, recently, we have had repeated inquiries as to the relative 
benefits of trench and subsoil plowing. We propose to indicate 
some of the advantages to be derived from each, and compare 
their effect upon soils and crops respectively. 

349. Trench plowing is deep plowing, and turning the subsoil 



180 niE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

on tilt* surfiice. It matters little what the character of the soil 
may be, (excepting light sandy soils, always,) trench plowing 
onght always to be done in the fall — especially if the stratum 
of soil is to be turned to the surface that has never been disturbed 
before. For one of the great benefits derived from trench plow- 
ing is that resulting from the exposure of new soil to the in- 
fluences of frost, light and heat, thus preparing it for the work 
of germination and production. It is more rarely the case that 
trench plowing in the spring results in an immediate increase of 
the crop. It is only on old and worn and very light soils that 
good effects follow spring trenching — we mean immediate effects. 
Where trench plowing is practised in the spring, the farmer should 
by no means bo too ambitious to plow deep. If he has been 
plowing four, six or eight inches, he should by no means spasmod- 
ically double the depth because he has a new notion and a new 
plow. The depth should be gradually increased, if the subsoil is to 
be turned to the surface. Two inches deeper each year is enough, 
and sometimes more than enough with the trench plow in spring. 
Then the soil thus thrown to the surface should be thoroughly 
incorporated or mixed with the soil that has been exposed previous 
years. Trench plowing is beneficial to light soils underlaid with clay 
— to soils containing a large proportion of humus— to old worn soils 
that have been plowed, cro})ped and manured for a series of years. 
But trench plowing should be done, on stiff ; oils especially, in 
the fall; on light sandy soils it is better done in the spring." 

BENEFITS OF TRENCH PLOWING. 

350. The necessity of trench plowing has been frequently 
adverted to, for the purpose of bringing the phosphates to the 
surface. In loosening the soil, the minerals settle down on the 
hard-pan, and their beneficial effects are lost. By trench plow- 
ing, they are again brought to the surface, and rendered available 
for plants. 

351. Another benefit of trenching is, that it brings the j ro- 
toxide of iron, which is poisonous to plants, to the surface, and 
exposes it to the action of the oxygen iu the atmosphere, by 



THE YOUNG FARMERS MAXUAL. 181 

which it becomes oxygenated, or jteroxide of iron, and is benefi- 
cial. Earths only l)econie fertile after having become oxygenated 
or oxydized by exposure to the atmosphere for a considerable 
length of time. 

352. Trenching, then, though ultimately beneficial in creat- 
ing a greater depth of arable soil, at first lessens the fertility of 
the ground in spite of manures. It must be exposed to the 
action of the atmospliere for a while before its beneficial effects 
are seen. It is only after the subsoil stratum, and tlie minerals 
in it are charged with oxygen from the atmosphere, that its be- 
neficial effects are realized. In deciding as to the propriety of 
subsoiling, the nature of the ground must be taken into consid- 
eration. Unless the subsoil is loose and porous, so that the 
water can easily pass off, or the land is previously well drained, 
suusoiling is not to be recommended. But loosening a part of the 
subsoil, while the underlayer is a stiff, adhesive clay, is injurious 
rather than beneficial. Until there is some way for the escape 
of the water, the larger the amount of surface loosened the greater 
the space for holding water. 

353. If ground is properly drained, or the subsoil is suf- 
ficiently. loose to allow the water to percolate aown through it, 
the effect of subsoiling is remark ible. An English agriculturist 
says that a crop, after draining and subsoiling, " was four times 
the quantity in weight ever produced in the same field at any 
previous time." Another English farmer says : " When land 
nas been thoroughly drained, deeply wrouglit, and well manured, 
the most promising sterile soil becomes a deep, rich loam, rivaling 
in fertility the best natural land in the country; and from being 
fitted for raising only scanty crops of common oats, will bear good 
crops of from 32 to 48 bushels of wheat per statute acre," The 
same farmer says when he commenced operations on his farm, ho 
" had not more than from four to four and a half inches of sur- 
face soil; but having applied the system of thorough draining to 
it, and used the subsoil plow, he can now turn up more thaa 
sixteen inches of good soil." 

354. But, as before remarked, these effects are not to bo 



cxpoctofl from a stronfc, ndhosivc clny soil; this i-aiinot be per- 
manently iinpi'oved hy subsoilino-. The first operation on faw.U 
land should be thorough draining, and then pulverizing by plow- 
inn: ill uurotted manure, clover, or buckwheat when in bloom. 
Such soils may be thus prepared for subsoiling. 

SOD AND SUBSOIL PLOWING. 

355. The preceding illustration represents the manner of 
turning the sod and furrow slices when a very narrow slice is 
cut with a Michigan Sod Plow. F. Holbrook and some other 
writers denominate it sod and subsoil plowing. He says: " This 
kind of plowing requires two plows upon one beam. The for- 
ward or skim plow should take a depth of not more than two or 
three inches, dropping the sod accurately into the channel, grass 
side down; and the rear plow should lift the remaining depth or 
under soil, raising it high, and laying it handsomely over the sod 
or skim furrow slice, and well matched up to the previous furrow, 
breaking the soil well in the act, and leaving a clean channel 
behind for the reception of the next furrow slices. When a well- 
constructed plow for this kind of work is accurately adjusted as 
to the line of draught, and held so as to cut a uniform width and 
de])th, and turn up the rear furrow slice to meet fully the pre- 
ceding one, as rejn'esented in the cut, the upturned soil is laid 
over in a remarkably light pulverized condition, making a very 
level and finely cracked and open seed-bed or tilth, superior to 
what can be done with any other implement yet introduced, and 
indeed superior to what the most accomplished spadesman could 
do in grass land by hand labor. For the deep breaking up of sod 
land I would recommend the sod and subsoil style of plowing, on 
all such as are free enough of obstructions, and have sufficient 
regularity of surface to admit of the use of a double plow. Deep 
plowing is done with lighter draft to the team by this mode than 
by any other, because you can plow quite a narrow furrow in pro- 
portion to depth — say ten inches deep, by eleven or twelve inches 
wide — while by other modes you would be obliged to carry at 
least from a third to a half more width than depth to turn the 
furrow surely. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL 



IbS 



MICHIGAN SOD AND SUBSOIL PLOW. 

The cut of the double plow accompanying this parafj^niph is 
manufactured by the Ames' Plow Company, Boston, Mass. It 




MICHIGAN SOD AND SUBSOIL PLOW. 

is used for the most part in fall plowing, as represented by illus- 
trations, (Paragraph 343.) The most important suggestions in 
using this plow is to set the small one about one fourth of an 
inch more to land than the large plow cuts; and run the small 
one not less than two inches deep. When it cuts a very thin 
slice, it increases the draught very much ; because it runs directly 
among the roots of grass. When the point runs below them, 
the draught is lighter. The forward mould-board is connected 
with the beam, and its depth of furrow is adjusted as follows: 
A substantial iron flange is fastened to the under side of the 
plow-beam by two bolts passing up through the flange and the 
beam, and made tight on top by nuts and Fcrews; the flange has 
two rows of slots in it to receive the bolts from the hindside of 
the forward plow, and the plow is made fast to the flange by bolts 
and nuts. By means of the slots in the flange, the forward plow 
may be raised or lowered, according to the depth of plowing de- 
sired, and made fast at the requisite point to give the depth 
desired. The forward mould-board turns the sod-furrow as wide 
as the working of the whole plow, and the earth on top assum- 



181 TUE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

ing an arcli-likc sliape, is naturally opened, wliilethc cuort of the 
rear mould-board brings up the deeper soil, })laeiiig it upon the 
sod and filling tiie channel, so that the sod-1'urrow is in no case 
liable to be brought to the surface by harrowing or other pro- 
cess of after-cultivation, tlie cohesion of the soil is broken, and 
the plowed land lies liglit and meHow, and almost as fine as if 
liarrowed — indeed, in some free soils rendering the use of the 
harrow quite unnecessary. 

GOOD EFFECTS OF DEEP PLOWING. 

356. I am inclined to think that the best thing which I can 
pen on this subject will be my own experience in deep plowing, 
and also what has come under my immediate observation. When 
I was a boy, my father, and all other farmers in that vicinity, 
would always remonstrate against *•■ plowing up the yellow dirt" 
as they called it; because they insisted that such dirt w^as *' cold, 
barren, wanting in fertility, and would spoil the soil." Conse- 
quently they did not plow, on an average, where the soil would 
produce the largest crops of winter wheat, only three or four 
inches deep. 

357. The subsoil, in most places, was a mixture of clayey 
loam and gravelly clay of a calcareous nature. The first ex- 
periment in deep plowing was tried on a field that had been 
cropped as loiig as I could remember, and but little manure 
had ever been returned to the soil. The thin surface soil of 
mould was about five inches deep. I ran the plow twico in a place 
in the spring, and sowed oats on it. Every alternate land was 
plowed in this manner. The oats were very much larger oa 
these lands where the plow was run twice in a place. And 
had the plowing been done in the fall, so that the frosts and rains 
could havj mellowed the compact subsoil, the crop would have 
been, no doubt, much heavier than it was. On other parts of 
my farm, where the subsoil consisted, for the most part, of a 
light-colored clayey and gravelly loam, deep plowing, when per- 
formed in the fall for spring crops, would increase the crop for 
a year or two more than a good coat of manure. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 185 

358. I liave my mind, at the present writing, on a Held at a 
distance from the barn, which had just come into my possession; 
and which was one of the first fields that had been cleared of 
the forest — more than thirty years previous — to which not a load 
of manure had ever been returned, which I plowed deep, with 
a span of horses and a yoke of oxen hitched to a double Michigan 
sod plow, which cut not less than twelve inches deep, and some- 
times fourteen inches deep, actual measurement. I always car- 
ried a rule; and would measure the deptli of furrow on the side 
where the soil was unbroken ; and the rear gauge wheal on the 
plow beam was adjusted to allow the plow to run twelve inches 
deep. But where the subsoil was not very compact, it would, 
sometimes run deeper than twelve inches. This field was plowed 
in December, when there were three or more inches in deptli of 
snow on the ground. Indian corn was planted the next spring on 
that field without any other preparation than harrowing it. The 
entire field was a vast mellow seed bed, not less than fourteen 
inches deep — as a soil after it has been pulverized will be 
several inches deeper than it was before it was plowed — and not 
a hard lump could be found in the fijld. 

359. The result wns, that it seemed like play to plant the 
seed, as the subsoil was so mellow. And the surface dried off 
in the spring very much earlier than on adjoining fields, and the 
seed was planted promptly as soon as the ground was warm 
enough to promote quick germination; it was very easy to cul- 
tivate and hoe; it grew luxuriantly all summer; and although 
the season was dry, I never saw the leaves of that corn rolled up 
but very little; because the roots had a deep and mellow bed 
to spread in; and lastly, and most important of all, that corn 
was ripe, cut up and stocked before a single field of corn on 
adjacent farms was ripe enough to cut up; and the yield of grain 
was much larger than had been produced on my farm up to that 
time. 

THE ILL EFFECTS OF DEEP PLOWING. 

360. Another field was plowed deep — as deep as a double 
team could draw a double Michigan sod plow — much of it was 



186 THE YOUNG FARMRlt's MANUAL. 

sixteen inches deep — for the purpose of forming a deep soil for a 
pear orcliard. See best works on fruit culture for best modes 
of preparing soil for fruit trees. Here the subsoil was of a 
very different character fiom that alluded to in the foiegoing 
paragraphs. There was very little mould among the soil. And 
the result was, that crops were a h.ng time in getting started 
after it was plowed deep, because the surface would be so very 
hard. Crops would grow very slowly, and the yield would be 
small for several successive seasons. 

361. It was thoroughly underdraincd with tile and stone, 
about two rods apart, with drains from thirty to forty-five inches 
deep; was manured abundantly every two or three years; was 
plowed in autumn, for tlie purpose of securing more complete 
pulverization; and a large and heavy crop of Indian corn sowed 
broad cast was plowed under, all of which combined rendered it 
a very productive soil for cereal grain and grass. But it was 
too compact and heavy for raising roots, carrots, turnips, pars- 
nips or potatoes. 

362. Besides my own experience on this subject, I met with 
similar instances all over the country, where farmers had turned 
what little mould there was on the surface some eight or ten 
inches below it; and had brought up a new stratum of cold, 
heavy and unfriable earth, which was not fertile enough to be 
called soil, and which would require many years of judicious 
management to render it a good fertile soil. 

363. On many of the slopes of our lakes, where the soil was 
thin and resting on a compact calcareous gravelly clay, many 
farmers, after seeing the excellent effects of plowing deep on the 
uplands, where the soil was a deep, black mould, resting imme- 
diately on a fertile subsoil of gravelly or clayey loam, instead of 
loosening up this hard substratum with the subsoil plow, have 
put a double team to one plow, and rolled up huge furrow slices 
of barren earth , and for a number of years have rendered their 
good soils about worthless. The ill effects of such deep plowing 
were discovered innnediately . But the next geu'jration of farmers 
will find that their predecessors committed one error in plowing 
such soils that will result in much profit to them. 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 18*[ 

PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF DEEP PLOWING. 

364. The prevailing practice among the mtijority of farmers 
all through Central New York used to l)e, to plow shallow, and 
not to turn up any of the yellow dirt. Couseqaently, as they did 
not pay much attention to keeping up the fertihty of their virgin 
soils, they soon became so much impoverished that their crops 
would hardly pay the expense of cultivation. I remember well 
a certain large farm that was managed on the '' skinning" and 
" skimming" system — plowing shallow and carrying everything off 
the soil, and returning nothing to it — which came mto the posses- 
sion of a man who hitched two teams to one plow; and turned 
up several inches in depth of the fertile subsoil; and drained the 
wet portions of' it; and plowed under some clover, and all the 
coarse strawy manure that he could collect ; and by this means 
he raised large crops of winter wheat, when his neighbors could 
not raise half of a crop; and his crops were quite as heavy as the 
soil ever produced when the land was first cultivated. It was 
a common remark among his neighbors, that he had turned up a 
new soil. Every one who observed the effect attributed his large 
crops to the deep plowing. And this was correct, because for 
more than thirty years only a thin stratum of soil had been cul- 
tivated. And as the subsoil, for the most part, was well filled 
with available nourishment for promoting the growth of the 
wheat plant, it was almost like a new soil, because it had never 
been cropped. 

365. On many of our river bottom lands, where the soil had 
been plowed shallow for many years, deep plowing has often 
increased the quantity of the crop from one-third to one-half 
the usual quantity. But the intelligent farmer will perceive 
that soils should never be plowed deep with a common plow, 
where there is but a thin stratum of mould resting on a com- 
pact, cold, aad barren subsoil. Many good farmers all over 
the country have related their experience in deep plowing, and 
it has been condemned about as often' as it has been recom- 
mended But by inquiry it will always be found ihcit the kind of 



188 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

mbsoil would always determine the success or the failure of the 
experiment. And the quality of the subsoil— or the quality of 
the lower part of the soil — will always afford proper instruc^tiou 
when to plow deep with a common plow, as well as when to 
dee})cn the soil with a subsoil plow, thus keeping the best soil ou 
the surface of the ground. 

EXPERIMENTS IN DEEP PLOWING. 

36C). Wm. D. Sheldon, of Wayne Co., gives in the Rural 
JVew Yorker the result of two experiments in turning up the sub- 
soil, which may prove instructive to our readers. He says : " I 
])urcliased a farm a few years ago that had been worn out by 
(constant sli allow plowing. The first year I sowed five acres to 
oats, upon a ridge which had a gravelly hard-pan some six inches 
bclow^ the surface, and the crop was hardly worth cutting. 
Plowed it shallow. The next year I used the Michigan Double 
riow, running it ten inches deep, which brought up some four 
inches hard-pan. The oats on the average were four and a half 
feet high — the largest growth I ever saw. The five ar.'res filled 
a 30 by 40 barn from bottom to top, and a part of the barn 
floor. There was not enough lodged on the whole field to make 
one bundle — the straw was strong, and so harsh that the stock 
had no inchnation to eat it. Another lot on the same farm, on 
a flat, I plow^ed about one foot deep. The soil was a black 
sand; the result was the reverse of the above — it nearly spoiled 
the land." 

367. Hiram Walker, Mexico, Oswego Co., N. Y., wrote the 
following letter to tho Country Gentleman: "The land ou 
which I have tried deep subsoil plowing is a clayey loam, with 
a very retentive subsoil. I began five years ago by following the 
large Peekskill Plow with Starbuck's subsoil plow in the same 
furrow. The subsoil plow does not cut more than two-thirds as 
wide as other plows, and merely raises the earth some four inches, 
and tails back in its original bed, leaving a strip of earth between 
the furrows undisturbed 

308. After going over ten acres in this way, I thought I 



THE YOUNG FAIiMEK's MANUAL. 189 

miglit more effectually stir the whole subsoil strata by cutting 
both fnrrows with the same plow, I then gauged my sod plow 
to cut six inches deep. By having the draft raised, and throwing 
the roller into the furrow, I could easily cut the second furrow in 
the bottom of the first without any alteration of the draft or the 
roller. This was much more convenient than to change plows 
every round, as I did when using two plows, as I performed the 
work with a single team. In performing the work with a single 
plow, I stirred the whole earth the depth I plowed, raising part 
of the subsoil furrow to the surface, so that at the next plowing 
the sod and subsoil furrows will be well mixed t02:ether. 

369. *' I have cultivated fifty acres in this way during the last 
five years. Most of this plowing has been done with Reming- 
ton's large size steel plow, made at Ilion, jS^. Y. Tlie land I 
have cultivated, as above stated, is nearly free from stone, and 
much of it so adhesive a nature that an iron plow, however 
bright, would load up the mould-board, while the steel plow 
would always kicp clean and save 25 per cent, in the draft. 
Any plow will clean itself in loose gravelly soils. I do not think 
it necessary to subsoil loose, porous soils whose tendency is to 
leach, as they are loose enough without. 

3T0. I prefer to subsoil in the fall — first, because there is 
more time for this extra work, and teams are strong; and secondly, 
because clayey grounds may be quite moist and pasty, and any 
lumps of clay thrown up will be slaked and left light by the frost 
of winter and April winds. Land thus fall plowed is left loose, 
and the air penetrates it till it is worked in the spring, thereby 
improving the subsoil for vegetation. 

371. I have had better crops on land worked as above than 
before, as it lets the air mingle with the soil at a greater depth ; 
water recedes from the surface quicker, and I can run my plow 
to a depth with ease that could not be done before." 

372. The Editor of the Agricultural Gazette s-djs: "Light 
land, whetlicr sandy or gravelly, cannot have its naturally un- 
certain productive capaciiies fully developed without deep culti- 
vation. If a hole be dug in search of gravel or sand, and the 



190 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

soil be simply put back again, that placo will retain ius I'lxur- 
ianee of liTOwth much longer than the soil adjoin ng, where the 
field has merely been subjected to ordinary shallow plowing. 

3T3. To create two feet of well-filled soil, instead of nine 
inches of it, is to give the soil a greatly increased power of 
i-eta'ning moisture. A piece of pumice stone will occupy far less 
space when smashed to powder. Its capacity to resist the escape 
of moisture will be proportionately increased. Light soil is of a 
somewhat corresponding structure; and by first stirring it as deep 
as possible, and then compressing it into a compact, united mass 
of stone, not only are fresh substances made available for roots 
to feed on, but its natural moisture is retained for use by the 
growing plant. 

374. Heavy or clay land, even if underdrained, would be 
greatly benefitted by deep autumn cultivation, if well fui-rowed 
out subsequently. Drainage, in any case a fertilizer, is, in such 
a case, the first necessity, and deep cultivation is the second 
requisite, if profitable cro})S be the abjtct. If soil be deepened 
and pulverized, and just enough ammoniacal or other stimulatiiig 
manure be applied to cause the first development of green crop, 
enable it to feed freely on the air, and if this crop be turned in 
to decompose, an addition of every element of food for plants will 
be made to the soil. All that need be guarded against in prac- 
tising deep cultivation, is bringing up merely mineral earth from 
below more rapidly than it can be easily converted into soil by 
tillage and exposure." 

375. A practical farmer writes to the Rior a I JVeiv Yorker: 
** We have abundant evidence, from various sources, of the 
superior benefits obtained from plowing eight or ten inches deep, 
instead of five or six, as was once the almost universal custom. 
Yet many still continue the old practice, asserting that they have 
tried the other and found it injurious, the crops invariably depre- 
ciating on lands thus treated. Now, what is the cause of this 
discrepancy in results ? We assert that in every case where the 
subhoil is of rqual or superior fertiUty to the surface, and has 
been subjected to the ameliorating influence of the atmosphere 



THE YOUN'G FARMEr's MANUAL. 191 

for a short time, that deep plowuig increases the crop. But, un- 
fortunately, many of our soils a few inches below the surface are 
nearly barren; and to throw up, say four inches, of this barren 
soil to the surface, and without cross-plowing or mixing it with 
the mould, sow the grain on it and drag it in, no wonder that the 
young plants, in their vain struggle to find nourishment, should 
dwindle and die. But it is believed that such, or in fact any soil, 
can ultimately l)e benefitted by deep plowing, if judiciously per- 
formed. We would, in the above case, deepen but one inch the 
first year, and mix well together, manuring, if necessary, and then 
in one, two or three years, according to circumstances, deepen 
another inch, and so continue until you have a soil as deep as one 
pair of oxen or horses will ordinarily plow with a good plow, 
which is about ten inches." 

DEEP PLOWING IN NEW ENGLAND. 

376. Although the plowing in the New England States is 
done with a single team, for the most part, and only four, five 
and six inches deep at that, yet, in many instances, a double, 
triple and even a quadruple team is used to draw a single 
plow. Many of the fertile intervale soils bordering on the 
rivers have a very deep as well as fertile soil; and the deeper they 
are plowed the more productive they are. I have my mind on 
fertile river bottom lands on the Merrimac River, that are always 
plowed as deep as four good horses are able to draw a plow. 
And there is no danger of ever injuring such soils by deep 
plowing. Levi Bartlett, an excellent correspondent of the 
Country Gentleman, when alluding to the amount of team em- 
ployed to plow the soil on the Webster farm, in N. H., says: 
" The present owner was plowing an eight-acre field of sward 
land. This was in the month of September. The team consisted 
of three large yokes of oxen and a heavy pair of horses. The 
soil was alluvial, as free from stones, stumps, &c , as the prairies 
of the West; furrows 12 inches deep, by 18 in width. A less 
team could have done the work; but as the owner of the farm 
had that amount of team, he put it into the field. I have seen 



192 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

p;ood plowiug' done here by a pair of horses or a pair of oxen. 
Some of our land is as light and easy to plow as the limestone 
soils of Western Virginia. In Concord there are men that plow 
these intervales at six dollars per acre, with four good horses. The 
crop of corn grown, with good culture and manure, averages sixty 
bushels per acre. A crop of corn of sixty bushels per acre, in 
'many sections out West, will sell for only six dollars — -just what 
it costs to plow an acre of land in the Granite State." 

377. In many other places in the "Old Granite State," 
after the rocks and s:nall stones have been removed, the soil is 
deeper than most farmers ever desire to plow. But the intel- 
ligent reader must heed the warning given in preceding para- 
graphs, not to turn up a stratum of barren subsoil, and spoil his 
land, because somebody else has found very deep plowing to be 
productive of an increase of crops 

llESULT OF DEEP PLOWING IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

378. A practical farmer writes thus to the Germantown 
Telegraph: ''There is no subject in agriculture more worthy 
of consideration than that of plowing deep in tha fall, under 
certain circumstances. My experience on this subject has 
shown me, that clayey and slate soils may be greatly benefitted 
by plowing deep in the fall, exposing the soil to the action of the 
air and frost during the winter. Experience has also taught m^, 
that plowing clayey soils deep in the spring, so as to turn up two 
or three inches of soil never before exposed to air, is sure to 
be a failure in the first crop. After being thus exposed for one 
year to the atmosphere, and plowed the following spring, the 
increase in the next crop will be plainly seen, proving the ad- 
vantage of plowing such lands deep in the fall. On slaty soils I 
have seen far greater results from this method. 

379. A portion of my farm is slate. 1 was told by one of my 
neighbors that a part of this slate had been under the plow for 
over twenty years. The owner tried a number of times to seed 
it, but without success. I commenced plowing this piece of land 
with the intention of I'cstoring it to fertility. I plowed it beam 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL 193 

deep, and sowed oats in the spring, and seeded to June clover. 
The result was more than I expected. A uniform growth of 
oats, three feet high, was the result. The next June I mowed 
one and a half tons per acre of good clover hay upon said land. 
I commenced plowing in the clover on the 15 th of September, and 
f owed to winter wheat. The July following I harvested a fair 
crop of wheat, considering the amount of insects which worked 
upon it. I plowed again in the fall, and sowed oats in the spring, 
expecting that there would be clover seed enougli left to seed it; 
but in this I was disappointed; the result was a fair crop of oats 
for this year; I have plowed again this fall with the intention 
of seeding next spring. 

380. Another piece adjoining I plowed in the fall, and sowed 
with oats in the spring. I harvested what the insects left after 
doing their work, which was 45 bushels per acre. Said piece 
of land did not produce more than 40 bushels of ears of corn per 
acre the year before. I have satisfied myself that there must 
be some power in slate stone for the growth of vegetation, when 
brought into a state to be acted upon by the roots of plants, 
•wliich is done by the action of heat and cold, in pulverizing the 
slate. 

381. Geology and experience have taught us that no soil, un- 
less exposed to the atmosphere, will vegetate the least plant. 
We may take swamp muck, as an example, which experience 
teaches will be of no use until brought to the air, and changed 
by a chemical process in uniting with some other substance, or 
the action of the atmosphere upon it, thus changing it into a 
valuable manure. In the other case, the soil is not so much satu- 
rated with water, as in the former, and nature is, in this case, her 
own remedy, when the soil is exposed to the atmosphere. The 
distance to which air penetrates clayey soils cannot be more than 
two or three inches when plowed shallow. Wiiile with deep 
plowing it may penetrate to three times that depth. 

FALL AND WINTER PLOWING. 

382. It seems not a little surprising that there should be so 

9 



194 T'JE vouxG farmer's manual. 

many fiirmcrs, in this au-e of intelligence, who will so strenuonsly 
insist ui)on the inexpediency of fall or winter plowing. It would 
seem that after a few successful experiments in fall plowing 
every farmer would be not only ready, but in haste, to avail him- 
self of the great benefits of plowing deep in the fall. But we find 
a great number who have come deliberately to the conclusion, 
that they do not get as good crops from these fields which were 
plowed in the fall as from those which are plowed only in ths 
spring. Many contend that when land is plowed in the fall, 
(especially sward land), the crop, especially if it be corn, will be 
very much injured the ensuing year by the worms. Others say 
that they have experimented in fall plowing, and have become 
satisfied that they do not get as good crops as from spring plow- 
ing only, 

383. We grant, in a measure, the truthfulness of both these 
objections; but, at the same time, we would advocate late fall 
plowing, except when the soil is very sandy, or a sandy loam. 
It is true tliat there ar.^ soils which it would not be well to plow 
in the fill, on account of their disposition to leach. After a far- 
mer finds, by a few fair experiments on sucli soils, that he obtains 
greater crops from spring plowing only, than from fall or winter 
plowing, the practice should be abandoned at once. On very 
porous, light sandy soils, on gravelly loams, and all other kinds 
of soil which are not accustomed to bake and to become lumpy, 
the rains and snow and frosts of winter have no ameliorating ef- 
fect, because if we increase their porosity and friability it is 
done at the hazard of their fertility 

THE OBJECT OF FALL PLOWING. 

384. The grand object to be attained in fall or winter plow- 
ing is to increase the friability and porosity of soils, and to de- 
stroy the worms. If the soil is already very porous and friable, 
there is too much reason for apprehending that much of tlio 
elements of fertility will be washed out by drenching rains, and 
thus the soil would be impaverisiied rather than made more fer- 
tile. But, generally speaking, all soils that are apt to be lumpy 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 195 

» 

when they are plowed where there is not an excess of moisture, 
and inclined to bake in spring and summer, clayey loams, c.J- 
carc'01.13 soils, and thin soils of muck lying on a subsoil of ciayej 
loam and gravelly clay, will be greatly bcu^^fitted by being turned 
up to the influence of the rains and fro.^ts of winter. If a soil 
has boen thoroughly drained, but is very wet from heavy rains, 
we need entertain no fears that fall plowing will injure it; be- 
cause, should it be so wet as to run together like mortar, the 
rains and frosts will destroy this cohesion. But if a soil is not 
thoroughly drained, we need expect no benefit to result from 
plowing such soils in the fall or winter. I will tell why. A soil 
that is thoroughly saturated with water will expand but little, 
if any more, than the same bulk of water when it congeals; and 
when it thaws, much of the finer particles run together like lime, 
sand, and loam, when they are made into mortar, holding in this 
mass the elements of fertility so firmly, that as food for plants 
they are in an unavailable state. But when soil that is only 
moistened freezes, its bulk is greatly increased, and the cohesion 
of every part is affjcted; and when it thaws, there being not 
water enongh to allow the diffirent particles to run or settle to- 
gether, it remains light and friable lik3 honey-comb; and eaeli 
successive freezing increases its porosity and breaks up this 
coarseness of particles. 

385. Another object in plowing late in autumn is, the de- 
struction of numerous insects that are injurious to vegetation. 
When insects are turned up from their winter quarters in cok- 
weather, they are not lively enough to descend again into the 
soil. Therefore many of them perish. 

386. When a soil is plowed early in autumn, if there are many 
worms in it, there is danger that they will seriously injure the 
crop the following season. But if the plowing is djfjrred until 
late in the autumn, or even until winter, a great majority of them 
will perish after being routed from their winter quarters. And, 
furthermore, when sward land is plowed early in autumn, the 
grass roots on which the worms would have fed while the crop is 
growing, will have decayed long before the crop in the following 



190 TIFR YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

season is out of danger from the worms. But if land be plowed 
late in autumn, or winter, the grass roots undergo but little 
change, and will furnish food for worms, as well as if the soil had 
been plowed in the spring. 1 have known many crops materially 
injured by the worms in consequence of plowing too e;nly in 
autumn. A few years since a neighbor cut a ditch through one 
of his pastures, in the month of September, and on the following 
season plowed in the spring, and planted with corn. Along this 
ditch, a strip, about six or eight feet wide, was almost entirel}'' 
destroyed by worms, while the rest of the field yielded a bounti- 
ful crop. 

THE EFFECT OF FALL PLOWING WET GROUND ILLUSTRATED. 

387. In order to illustrate this subject, let any one take some 
nnslacked lime and wet it just enough to mik3 it slack well, and 
it will afford a beautiful example of the effect of rain and frost 
on a dry soil that has been plowed in the winter. Now, lake 
another quantity of lime and continue to pour on water, more 
than is necessary to slack it; and after it is slacked, stir it with 
a stick and let it settle. Now let the water evaporate, and let 
the lime freeze and thaw, and we are furnished wit i a very cor- 
rect idea of the effect which fall or winter plowing has on a soil 
that has an excess of moisture in it. In many parts of the 
country a thin soil rests on a heavy, compact substratum, some- 
times called " hard-pan," which is often said to reacli as far as 
the second rail of tlie fence; and it is often plowed when water 
will stand in the furrows. But labor expended in plowing such 
soils when so wet is of very little benefit to them. So long as 
the interstices of the soil are filled with water the soil is dead. It 
cannot be pulverized, and plants cannot grow. It must be 
drained. It is the height of folly to attempt to grow any kind 
of crops on such a soil without first removing the surplus water. I 
shall reiterate this thought from the beginning to the end of 
this book — 'drain all heavy soils ichen there is any super fiar as 
vioisturc. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. l9t 

THE EXPERIENCE OP OTHEIIS IN FALL PLOWING. 

388. We have made extensive observations on this snbject, 
in reading agricultural papers for more than twenty years past; 
and the testimony from farmers all over the country is universiilly 
in favor of the practice. A correspondent of the Rural Neio 
Yorl-er writes: "Fall plowing I think an important item in farm 
operations, for past experience has taught me that better crops 
of barley and oats may be secured, or. any of our lands, by plow- 
ing in the fall; and we can invariably get them in, in better 
condition, I considei* it indispensable, however, that no surface 
water be allowed to remain long; and neglect in this respect I 
believe to be the cause of so many failures in the experiment. 
Some say, 'plow dry land, but you must not plow those which 
are wet;' but, with all deference to the opinions of such, I, from 
past experience, advise to the contrary. If I have a rather wet 
clayey lot which is intended for spring crops, I plow in the fall; 
not, however, in an indifferent manner, as is the practice of some, 
but with great care, putting it in narrow beds, and cutting cross 
furrows or ditches, in order that all the surface water may 
quickly ran off and not lay upon the land to harden it. In this 
condition the legitimate effjct of the frost is to pulverize the soil; 
and, when spring comes, once harrowing, and then going over it 
with the wheel cultivator, will put it in as good condition for 
sowing as it possibly can be," 

389. A correspondent of the Cultivator writes: '* I noticed an 
article on fall and winter plowing, in which it was highly recom- 
mcn >d to plow in the fall, except on sandy or sandy loam soils 
— the writer taking the ground that such soils w;il leach if 
plowed in the fall. I do not know but it is so; but I have yet 
to learn that if you plow such a soil in the fall it is at the hazard 
of its fertility — especially if it is sward land, and the first crop is 
intended to be corn. Instead of the action of the frost and snow 
of winter increasing the porosity and friability of such a soil, it 
tends to sctt'le it d wn together, and renders it 1 ss lial)le to be 
affected by the drouth, which is something to bo thought of 



198 THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

when we have such dry seasons as we have had for two years 
past; and tlien the sod rots earhei- than it would if it were 
plowed in the spring, and gives its fertilizing qualities as a 
manure to the young corn as it just commences to grow — a time 
when it is needed, if ever, to push it forward, so that the hoe can 
be used to keep the weeds in subj Lection. Last year I had a field 
of corn of some eight acres; a little more than half was plowed 
in the full, and the rest in spring. When I came to harvest it, 
that plowed in the fall was nearly if not quite one-third the best; 
a great deal heavier growth of stalks and longer ears; audit 
stood the drouth better by half. Where it was plowed in the 
spring, the corn leaves began to roll a week or ten days before 
they did where it was plowed in the fall; and when there came 
any rain, it seemed to leach through and leave the ground as dry 
as ever. I am in favor of fall plowing for any crop. It is 
equally as good for other crops as for corn, as far as my ex- 
perience goes." 

SUGGESTIONS AGAINST FALL PLOWING. 

390. 0. C. GiBBS, M. D., Ohio, writes to the Country Gentle- 
man: *' We seldom look into an agricultural paper, in the later 
months of autumn, witjiout seeing fall plowing recommended for 
spring crops. Btlievingtliis advice to be, in most cases, injudicious, 
and founded upon erroneous principles of agriculture, I shall of- 
fer a few suggestions in support of this opinion. 

391. The great stimulus to every form of cultivation, so far 
as the soil is concerned, is admitted by all to be the quantity of 
organized matter in the soil, in a state of disorganization or de- 
composition. Now, irrigation and pulverization of the soil pro- 
mote the disorganization of those organic elements, and vender 
them active for the development and support of vegetation; and 
if there be no crop upon the land to receive that stimulus, or if 
the surface of the land be not in some way protected, so as to 
prevent the escape of those fertilizing elements, rendered gaseous 
by the process of decomposition, they are, in a great measure, 
evaporated and utterly lost to the soil. Hence, land is im- 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 199 

povcrishcd nearly, if not quite as much, by fall plowing, prepara- 
tory to spring crop, as though a crop had actually been taken 
from it without any return. Land may, perhaps, be tilled a 
little earlier in the spring for the fall plowing; but in Ohio, at 
least, it can be tilled early enough for corn, spring wheat, oats 
&c., without this impoverishing preparative. At any rate, where 
autumn plowing facilitates early culture, undcr-drainin x would 
be far more beneficial, and not open to the serious objection 
which we urge against the measure under discussion. It is 
thought by most of the advocates of fall plowing that it de- 
stroys the cut-w^orm, so injurious, sometimes, to the corn crop. 
But this, I think, is questionable. Though the worms be ex- 
posed to the action of the elements, yet I submit the inquiry, how 
long would it take them to penetrate again beyond the reach of 
frosts ? And would not their unerring instinct prompt them to 
avail theinselves of this sure protection ? Be this as it may, in 
reference to the cut-worm one thing is certain, and many farmers 
have experimentally learned the fact, that fall plowing injures the 
soil as effectually as it does the worms. It is said that fall 
plowing renders the land much easier tilled the coming spring; 
this, in reference to some soils, is doubtless" true, and is the only 
real advantage the system possesses; and this certainly ought not 
to weigh against attending evils." 

392. We have quoted the foregoing letter simply to show 
what could be said against fall plowing. But it may be seen 
tliat the tenor of the writer's arguments appear very like the de- 
fense of a man who knows and feels that all the facts in the case 
and all the knock-down arguments are on the side of his antagon- 
ist; and himself would like a good opportunity to skedaddle with 
his tail of — feathers drooping. That land ** is impoverished by 
fall plowing" there is no evidence at all. Fall plowing will, 
doubtless, destroy many worms if it be done in late autumn ; be- 
cause, if their winter quarters be disturbed, they will not possess 
vitality enough to descend again beneath the surface, unless the 
weather were unusually warm. The very best argument against 
the theory advanced that fall plowing impoverishes the soil is, 



200 TITE YOUXO farmer's MANUAL. 

that much better crops are always attained on heavy soil by fall 
plowing where there is not an excess of water in it. 

ERRONEOUS THEORY REFUTED. 

.893. B. T. ITarvey says: '• Organic matter, lying upon the 
surface of the soil, unmixed or uncovered with any other absorb- 
ing element, in a state of decomposition, may " waste its sweet- 
ness on the desert air," or, in other words, its fertilizing proper- 
ties may escape in a gaseous form. But in all ordinary cases, 
tlie organized matter in the soil undergoing decomposition, so far 
from being evaporated and lost in the atmosphere, is, on the con- 
trary, absorbed and retained by the other elements constituting 
the basis of the soil. But if it were otherwise, it must be evident 
to all observing minds, that from November to April, tliroughout 
the Northern States, decomposition hi the soil is arrested for 
want of heat; consequently no injury could result from fall plow- 
ing, so far as evaporation is concerned. But supposing the 
Doctor's opinion of evaporation correct (which neither facts or 
logic will establish), it is even tlicn questionable whether fall 
plowing or plowing at any season will have a tendency to im- 
poverisli any soil of ordinary fertility. That there may be, as 
above stated, a continued passing olT of fertilizing elements into 
the atmosphere, from organic matter in a state of decomposition, 
not in immediate contact with other absorbing elements, is 
evident, but which must again, through chemical attraction, or 
by combination with the humidity of the atmosphere, in connec- 
tion with dew and rain, return to the soil. If this were not so. 
would not the air we breathe become surcharged with deleterious 
elements, producing death so rapidly that the M. D.'s themselves 
would soon become subjects. But experience has taught the 
farmer that frequent plowing and turning the soil is the proper 
way to fit it for attracting and retaining moisture, and why not 
fertilizing properties from the atmosphere as well. As there are 
some exceptions to general rules, so there are some soils that may 
be injured more than benefitted by autumn plowing; such as light 
sands, or soils wanting tenacity, by the operation of plowing, 



THE YOUXG FARMER S MANUAL. 



201 



and tlironp:!! the agency of frost, be rendered still more friable, 
and wanting in proper texture. In the cultivation of such soils, 
it is important that the roller should follow the plow. If, as a, 
general rule, fall plowing has a tendency to deterioration, tiien 
plowing at any time must be injurious to land, and the less it is 
practised the better for the soil. This may be gratifying in 
theory, but it will be found ruinous in practice." 

THE SUBSOIL PLOW. 

304. The accompanying figure represents an implement called 
the '* Liftino: Subsoil Plow." The standard consists of a flat 




SUBSOIL FI<OW. 

piece of iron an inch or more in thickness, with two heads on the 
upper part, by which it is bolted to the underside of the beam. 
The point or share is made either with a wing on both side^^, like 
a spear placed flat on the ground, or with the wing only on one 
side, as shown by the illustration. On one or both sides of the 
standard there is an adjustable flange about three inches wide, 
over wiiich the soil rises and drops back crumbled into the 
bottom of the furrow. The share and these fl.inges form an in- 
clined plane. If it be desirable to elevate the soil much or only 
a little, the rear ends of the flanges may be adjusted to the 
desired hciglit by means of bolts passing through the standard. 
The higher the rear ends of the flanges the harder a plow will 
draw, and the more thoroughly it will pulverize the soil. A draft 
rod and dial clevis attached to the beam enable the ])lowmaii to 
9* 



202 

so adjust it as to run directly in tlie furrow made by the common 
plow, thus breaking up tlie compact subsoil, and leaving it in the 
furrow. The wheel may be placed on either side of the beam. 
If the plow will not run deep enough loosen the standard bolts, 
and put a thick piece of leather between the forward standard 
and the beam. Or a better way will be to separate the beam 
from the standard, and dress off one-fourth of an inch of the un- 
der side of the beam, where it rests on the rear head of the 
standard. This will give the point more " pitch," so that it will 
run in readily. 

HOW TO SUBSOIL. 

395. When a farmer has but one te:im, he plows one furrow 
round the field or land, and then hitching to the subsoil plow 
goes round again in the same track. In order to pulverize the 
subsoil very thoroughly, it is necessary to cut narrow furrow 
slices, and to use the subsoil plow when the ground is cross- 
plowed as well as the first plowing. S ubsoiling thus for two or 
three years, the ground will be pretty well pulverized to the full 
depth the subsoil plow reaches. When the plow cuts wide fur- 
row slices the subsoil plow may be run twice in the furrow. 
When this is not done, and especially if the field be subsoiled 
only one way, the subsoil will not be more than one-third or one- 
half broken up. A span of horses or yoke of oxen will draw a 
two-horse subsoil plow ten to fourteen inches deeper than the 
first cut through a pretty compact subsoil. When run deeper 
the draft increases very rapidly, and the pulverization is not so 
complete. Two or three spans of horses or yokes of oxen are 
usually required if the subsoil plow be }mt dcwn 18 or 20 inches 
deep, as is not un frequently done in preparing ground for or- 
chards, vineyards, hop-yards, tfec. 

39G. It is essential in subsoiling, in order to do the work 
well, to have a sharp point on the plow. As the point is driven 
through soil that is much more compact than the surface soil, 
the points will wear out much faster than on a common plow; 
and unless tluy are renewed as soon as they are worn so that 



THE A'OUXG farmer's MANU4L. 



2D3 



it will not enter readily, it will be difficult to run the plow of a 
unrforra depth. 

397. The accompanying illustration represents a section of 
sod ground after plowing with a subsoil plow. The subsoil is 




SUBSOIL PLOWING. 



pulverized beneath the furrow slices as low as the dark line from 
the edge of the unbroken ground towards the right hand. This 
represents the appearance of a section of ground as nearly as we 
are able to mdke it look on paper. As stated in a previous pa* 
ragraph, the sub oil must be plowed with narrow slices, and 
cross-plowed, before it would be pulverized to a uniform depth. 
The narrower the furrows are the more thoroughly the work will 
be done, and the longer the subsoil will remain open and loose. 



THE EFFECTS OF SUBSOILING. 

398, Some writers have affirmed that '' subsoiling promotes 
drainage." This is the tendency — and so it is the tendency of 
moonshine to promote the healthy growth of plants. If wet sub- 
soil be plowed deep enough, we might say that it promotes drain- 
age. But in order to accomplish anything appreciable or tang- 
ible, it would be necessary to pulverize the subsoil several feet 
deep. It is said, also, that " subsoiling lets in the air." Where 
there is not an excess of water in the soil it does; but where the 
ground is wet, and has not been underdrained, air cannot fill the 
interstices of the soil while they are full of w^ater. 

399. Subsoiling enables roots to strike deeper, providing they 
do not meet with a strata of soil that is full of water. Roots of a 
cereal crop will not spread in any soil where they are required to 
grow in water. Subsoiling promotes the absorption of moisture 



204 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

from the atmospliere during drongths, thus cnaljling crops to 
witlistand the clU'ct of hot and dry weather. "VYlien a soil is 
thoroughly pulverized one or more feet deep, and there is not an 
excess of water, the warm air fills the interstices and is con- 
densed, thus furnishing moisture for the roots. This condensa- 
tion is effected in the same manner that we see water formed on 
cellar walls, or stones that are well bedded in the ground, or 
as dew is formed. There is aqueous vapor in the atmosphere, 
which comes in contact with the cold earth, and is condensed, 
thus forming water. Therefore if the soil be free from an ex- 
cess of moisture, dew will be formed — not only on the surface of 
the ground — but in all the interstices of the soil where air enters 
freely. 

400. If we subsoil a strip of land, and skip a land where the 
subsoil is very compact, or even not very open, and underdrain 
it where there is an excess of water, and plant Indian corn, it 
will be seen that the leaves of the corn where it was not subsoiled 
will be rolled up during hot weather, while that which had been 
subsoiled will look fresh and green, and the leaves will not be 
rolled up until the weather becomes extremely dry. These 
thoughts will be sufficient, it is beheved, to convince intelligent 
farmers of the importance of using the subsoil plow where the 
subsoil is not already as open as it should be. 

401. I have found the two-horse SL.bsoil plow^ an excellent 
aid in cutting ditches, where they were wide enough fur a horse 
to travel in them. Sometimes it was drawn by two horses, one 
on each side of the ditch, with a whiffletree some eight or nine 
feet long, and a chain three or four feet long from the whiffle- 
tree to the plow\ When used in this manner, it operates as an 
excellent ditching plow. 

402. Every observing farmer knows that when hollows have 
been filled up with mellow earth of any kind, two or more feet 
deep, heavy showers of rain are immediately absorbed, and the 
surface appears quite dry after a short time; and if more water 
falls than the soil will hold by capillary attraction, it settles at 
once beyond the reach of the roots of plants. 



THE YOUNG FAEMEr's MANUAL. 205 



SUBSOILING WET GROUND. 



403. When any kind of subsoil is not dry enongh to crumble 
readily, running the subsoil plow througli it will have little good 
effect, because it is pressed by the passage of the plow into a 
smaller compass; and as it does not crumble, it settles back very 
much to its former bed, occupying less space ; and when the sur- 
face water is dried out, it becomes more compact than it was 
before the plow disturbed it. If the land be thoroughly under- 
drained before the subsoil is broken up, it will be crumbled and 
lightened up. Months must pass before the lumps will wash 
down so as to materially fill the interstices, and the subsoil will 
not become so compact in several years as it was before subsoil- 
ing. It is therefore of little or no use to subsoil wet, heavy 
soils before they have been well undcrdrained. For this reason, 
many farmers, on soil which is exceedingly wet, with the subsoil 
compact and retentive, have experimented with and condemned 
the subsoil plow. We have known subsoiling to be done when 
the water would be driven along in the furrows before the plow 
by the turning over of the furrow slice. The consequence was 
that the more the subsoil was worked the harder and more com- 
pact it became as soon as the water had dried away, and the 
more difficult it was for roots of plants to spread in it. As a 
natural consequence, such poor results had a tendency to bring 
subsoiling into disrepute. If the wet heavy soils be well under- 
drained, and subsoiled when just dry enough to crumble, good re- 
sults will invariably follow, if the work be thoroughly done. This 
process on many farms would add several acres of ground avail- 
able for increase of crops as certainly and with less cost than 
buying additional land. Better grow 80 bushels of corn on one 
acre than to plant and cultivate one and a half acres for the 
same crop. 



SUBSOILING SKINNED LAND. 



404 W. R. CoppocK wrote to the Genesee Farmer: "Did 
you ever see " skinned " land ? If not, I will explain the terra. 
It is land that has been cropped for a long succession of years, 



20G THE YOUNG FARMEIl's MANUAL. 

skin deep, or only a few inclios in deptli, and all tlie mnnnre sold 
everv spring to the person who would pay the most for it. Just 
such a place of twenty-five acres, beautifully located ujar our 
city (Buffalo), I have ju^t purchased. My first step was to pro- 
vide a span of horses and dung cart, with which three cords of 
fertilizing material were hauled duily and spread on the land 
previous to plowing. This material consisted of stable manure, 
ashes, limed hair, charcoal from the rectifiers, sweepings from 
smiths' shops, bones, old plaster, lime rubbish, and street dirt. 

405. I then purchased a subsoil plow (similar to the one il- 
lustrated, Paragraph 454), and invited some twenty practical 
and amateur farmers, who had never seen a subsoil plow operate, 
to see it work. I turned a furrow slice with the common plow 
nine inches deep. The siibsoil plow followed in the bottom of 
the furrow eight inches deeper, crumbling and rendering permeabl i 
and light, without bringing to the surface any of the inert hard- 
pan , and comminuting earth's rich inorganic materials that had 
lain dormant for ages past. 

40(). Here was the charm! My friends looked on witli 
astonished delight. Conviction flashed on their minds, and they 
appeared quite satisfied of the great and important advantage 
that must result from pulverizing the earth deeper, thus affording 
greater space for the roots of plants to penetrate, and providing 
a safe-guard against the drouglit of the growing season. The land 
was left as light as a well-spaded bed or thoroughly-trenched 
garden. It was so well pulverized that the surface w.is raised tea 
or twelve inches above the level. (We think it would not have 
measured more than six inches. Earth must be pulverized ex- 
ceediuily fine in order to make a depth of seventeen inches 
occupy iwenty-seven inches deep.) Is not this the great funda- 
mental step towards renovating my skinned farm ? 

407. A three-horse team drew the subsoil plow at the first, 
and afterwards a heavy yoke of oxen; and, with the exception of 
places where there was hard gravel subsoil or heavy clay, two 
hoi'ses drew it without severe fatigue.'* 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 207 

COMBINED SURFACE AND SUBSOIL PLOWING. 

408. In many parts of the country common plows have a 
" subsoil attachment" fastened to them, which consists of a spear- 
like head, similar to the lower part of a subsoil plow. It is at- 
tached to the beam of the main plow by iron bars, and works 
close behind it in the bottom of the furrow. It is adjustable, so 
that it can be made to run two or more inches deeper than the 
bottom of the furrow. . 

409. The manufacturers contend that with such a plow the 
subsoiling can be done at the same time, and with the same team 
required to draw the common plow. Bat this is not so. All the 
advantage that can be rightfully claimed is, one man can hold 
the plow for performing both kinds of work at the same time, 
whereas two men are required when two plows are used at the 
same time. It is the height of folly to talk about pulverizing 
our heavy, compact soils from twelve to twenty inches deep 
without a strong, heavy team. A plow may be constructed to 
work the soil to that depth which may be held by one man. 
This is the only source of economy. No man can plow deep with- 
out some strong force to draw his plow. 

MANNER OP PLOWING LIGHT SOIL. 

410. When plowing stubble of any kind, where the soil is 
light and of a mucky character, it is better to use a plow that 
will turn a wide slice. The furrow slice should have a short de- 
cided twist, be raised in turning, for the more efifectual covering 
in of the stubble and other trash, and be turned quickly and 
strongly, so as to force the soil all over to an inverted position, 
breaking it fine in the act, and leaving a clean channel for the 
reception of the next furrow. This is the kind of stubble plow- 
ing you want for light soils. I have seen stubble plows at work 
of such construction — raising the earth so high, turning it so 
forcibly, and Withal in such a sort of spray from the rear of the 
mould board, that you miglit lay down a full-sized bundle of 
straw or stalks, and, passing by it with the plow, cover it entirely 




208 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

out of sight with a single furrow. You can readily see that the 
\on^, p:radual, easy twist of the green sward furrow slice is not 
adapted to good stubble plowing, nor is the short abrupt twist 
of the stubble furrow slice at all suitable for easy, handsome and 
effoctivo greaii-sw.ird plowing. E ich requires its own peculiar 
form of [Ao\7 to produce the best effect. 

PLOWIXG IIKAVY SOILS IN STUBBLE. 

411. The cut herewith annexed represents a transverse sec- 
tion of plowing with narrow slices, as directed in a previous 

• ^ paragraph where the soil is heavy, 

B^M'^M^^^ ^'^^ °^^ i^ ^^^- "^^^^^ ^^"^^ ^^ 

f'''^^^^'^-^^P plowing is done with a deep tiller 
plow, similar to Mead's Conical 
Plow or Allen's Cylinder Plow, 
DEEPPLomKG. Paragraphs 451 and 454. It 

will be seen that the entire soil is broken up and well pulver- 
ized, so that plants will find little difficulty in sending their roots 
in all directions through it. All good plowing appears similar 
to this when examined with a sp.ide. But where furrow slices 
are wide, and the plow runs deep sometimes, and at others 
shallow, and the point dull, and plowman lazy, there will be many 
unbroken bars or ridges beneath the surface which the roots of 
growing crops cannot enter without much difficulty. Some of 
my lielils, where there were many Canada thistles, w^re plowed 
in this v/ay with deep narrow slices in hot weather, soon after a 
crop of oats or wheat had been removed; and when the weather 
continued dry, the thistles gave very little trouble the next year, 
as all the roots were killed as deep as the plow ran. 

FROST AND RAIN GREAT PULVERIZERS. 

412. After a soil has been broken up it soon commences to 
run together again, and to set very much as mortar does, which 
lias been made of lime and sand; and to assume a solid and 
almost organized form. In this process, almost every particle of 
the soil that has been plowed is moved, more or less; and much 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 209 

of the soil is separated and moved several inches from those 
parts with which it has been in contact. This operation is ef- 
fected by rain and sunshine. As a matter of course, this change 
in the position of the particles of the entire soil does much to- 
wards securing thorough pulverization. Freezing and tha.wing 
of a soil exerts a very important influence in securing the com- 
plete pulverization of all soils. But when a soil has been plowed 
several months before the time of frost, it becomes consolidated; 
and tlie frost will not exert half the influence, in its more thorouo-h 
pulverization, that it would were it but recently plowed. 

413. For this reason, plowing early in autumn — where 
thorough pulverization is the chief object — will not be asefl'ectual 
as late plowing, or even plowing in the winter. If the rains and 
frosts of winter can be in operation when a soil is running together, 
after it has been plowed, the pulverization will be more thorough 
and complete than it would be under any other circumstances. 
And more than this, the more complete the pulverization is the 
longer that soil will remain mellow and porous; and consequently 
the greater will be the available amount of fertihzing matter in 
that soil which will promote the growth of crops. 

THE WAY TO PLOW WET GROUND IN THE FALL. 

414. As farmers cannot complete all their underdrains in one 
year, nor usually in ten years, there is a mode of plowing wet 
fields in autumn which will improve very much the friability of 
the soil, and thus be the means of producing a much larger and 
better crop the next season than when plowing is performed in 
the usual way. The first consideration is to lay out the lands for 
plowing, up and down the slope, as nearly as may be. The slope 
is sometimes in a diagonal direction across the field, and some- 
times a field does not all slope in one direction. But where 
the ground is decidedly wet, the lands should be up and down 
tiie slope, if the incHnation is not so great as to wash away much 
of the soil, so that the middle furrows may carry off the surplus 
watir more readily than when made across the slope. 

415. When wet land is plowed across the slope in late autumn 



210 THE YOUNG far:,ieii*s manual. 

the surplus water will be retained, in a great measure, by settling 
across the lands, from one middle furrow towards another, by 
which the soil will be kept well saturated, and sometimes com* 
pletely flooded with water. In case a field should slope gradually 
from two directions, and form a shallow valley, the true way 
would be to plow a land in the lowest part of the valley, and 
then let the middle furrows of all the lauds, up and down the 
slope or slopes, empty into the main middle furrow. 

41G. Now that the work is laid out, the next step will be to 
execute it. If the ground is sod ground, the plowing should be 
performed — if it be done with a single plow — with lapped furrow 
slices, and not with the furrow slices laid flat. And more than 
this, the plowing should be done in narrow lands — not more than 
sixteen or eighteen feet in width. Then, after every land has been 
finished, adjust the plow for running as deep as the team can 
draw it, and cut the middle furrows six or eight inches deeper 
than the rest of the plowing. After this has been done let the 
midtdle furrows be shoveled out, so as to form a free channel for 
the water, and let the earth which is shoveled out be spread 
evenly each way from the middle furrows, over the ridges. One 
active man, with a good round-pointed shovel, will shovel out a 
long line of such furrows in a day; and the good effect upon tlie 
crops next season, where wet land is treated in this manner, will 
amply remunerate for the labor bestowed. This kind of work can 
be })erformed when the weather is so unfavorable and cold that 
workmen can do little or nothing else to good advantage 

LAPPED FURROW SLICES FOR HEAVY SOIL. 

417. Plowing heavy soils with flat furrow slices in late 
r.ntunm is decidedly objectionable, because the soil is not efficiently 
pulverized. Generally speaking, when furrows are turned flat, 
the cohesion of the soil is not half broken up; and although the 
iurrow may appear to be broken up, as it turns on the plow, 
still all the cracks will close after the furrow slice leaves the 
jilow; and the soil will be but little better, so far as its porosity 
is concerned, than if it had not been plowed. Simply inverting 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 211 

tho soil to the depth of five or six inches in one unbroken mass, 
as we would turn over a plank, thinking that the rains and frost 
will render it sufficiently porous and friable, is a wrong idea. The 
plow must not only turn the fu'-row upside down, but it should 
destroy entirely the square form and unbroken compactness of 
the furrow slice. Then the rain and frost will be able to effect its 
pulverization in the most desirable and perfect manner. By 
plow^ing with a plow that turns round or convex furrow slices, the 
ground is prepared for the rain and frost to perform their office. 
By plowing with lap or flat furrows, w^e leave a task for the frost 
and rain which they are unable to perform, which the plow should 
have done, and then wonder why the result should be so different 
from what we anticipated. By turning the furrow with a plow 
that rolls a thin sod together, and encircles it completely with 
well-pulverized supersoil and subsoil on all sides to the depth of 
three or four inches, the soil is prepared in the most perfect 
manner possible for rain and frost to perform their work, and to 
preclude the risk of the elements of fertility being washed away 
by drenching rains. 

HOW^ TO BECOME A GOOD PLOWMAN. 

•• To tend the flocks and herds, and break the soil, 
And reap the golden grain, is pleasant toil." — Edwakbs. 

418. It is with plowing as with any other work. If a man is 
ambitious, energetic, and prompted with laudable aspirations to 
excel in his business, he will undoubtedly succeed. On the con- 
trary, if he is indifferent, and satisfied when he plows well, and 
not dissatisfied when he plows badly, he will not make an expert 
plowman. A good share of ambition is essential. An easy-kind- 
of-a-nobody may get up ambition enough to admire good plowing, 
when stimulated by others to praise it; but his own plowing will 
be performed, like every other job that is performed, in a second 
or third-rate manner. 

410. If a man or boy desires to excel in the art of plowing, 
he must learn first how to hitch the team correctly to the plow, 
and how to adjust it, in order to make it run deep or shallow, to 



212 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

tbe riglit hand or the left. He needs to learn by practice that 
when the traces are lengthened or shortened only one, two, or 
three inclies, or when the draught is changed at the end of the 
l)low beam only half an inch, the running of the plow will be 
altered so much as to prevent doing the work well. Observe 
closely the movements of the plow. See how it does the work when 
running at a given depth and widtli of furrow slice. When the 
soil is variable, and it appears difhcnlt to cut a furrow of uniform 
width and depth, observe those places where the })low works to 
suit you. Then stop at once, and endeavor to adjust the plow by 
the clevis, by the wheel or wheels, by lengthening or shortening 
the whiflletrees or traces, or ox yoke and chain, to make it run 
exactly the depth and width desired. Make yourself master of 
tlie principles laid down in Vol. I., pp. 331 to 336, on Adjusting 
tiie Plow and Beginning to Plow, and procure plows adapted to 
the work — to the depth of furrow and width of furrow slice — 
and you may safely calculate on a very satisfactory improvement 
in plowing. But the beginner must keep in mind this one im- 
]»ortant fact, that he cannot plow well eight inches deep with a 
J "low that was designed to run only four inches deep. A deep 
tiller })low will work well when running shallow; but a shallow 
l.ller will not do good work when adjusted to run deep. 

420. Plowing is quite different from most other work. If it 
be poorly performed it must remain so. A plowman cannot re- 
turn to perfect a bad job. When hoeing potatoes, he can return 
and do his work over again until it is well done. But in order 
to plow well, a man must know how to start correctly, and how 
to maintain a correct course of procedure. A careless, inad- 
vertent step ill the course of one's conduct brings a reproach on 
liis character that cannot be easily wiped away. So with plow- 
ing. If every furrow is not made with careful precision the 
work w 11 not be done well. These suggestions are made merely 
to induce young plowmen to aim to excel in holding the plow. 
Good plowing is intimately connected with "paying farming;" 
l)ecaase if land be not well plowed it is folly to expect to 
raise superior crops. And if a farmer fails to grow remunerating 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 213 

crops because his land is not half pulverized, he cannot expect 
to make farming pay. If we can induce our farmers to plow 
better, one very important step has been taken towards making 
the cultivation of the soil a paying business. 

DRAUGHT OF HEAVY AND LIGHT PLOWS. 

421. The momentum of a plow in its passage through the soil 
is not an appreciable force. There is no advantage arising from 
the use of a lieavy plow, from its relieving the team in overcom- 
ing obstacles. On the contrary, there is considerable disadvantage 
in the draught of a heavy plow, as every unnecessary pound ab- 
sorbs a certain proportion of the effective muscular force of the team. 
If a plow weighing one hundred pounds, which is heavier than 
many good plows, be sufficiently strong, the addition to its weight 
of thirty or more pounds will tax the team to haul that unneces- 
sary weight from day to day to no purpose. A dynamometer (or 
draft-measurer) is r.ot delicate enougli to indicate the difference 
which there actually is betv/een the drauglit of liglit and heavy 
plows. If a plow cuts a furrow slice one foot wide, then in plow- 
ing one acre, if it weigh thirty pounls more than is necessary, it 
will absorb an amount of the ciTective force of a team sufficient 
to move 1,980 lbs. a distance of one-eighth of a mile, dragging it 
along on the ground. These facts lead us to discourage the use 
of unnecessarily heavy plows, out of regard to the teams, if not 
to the plowman. 

422. In plowing stony soils with a light plow, if small stones 
continually turn the plow from its course, so that the plowman 
must labor hard to keep it in its proper place, I have often seen 
them put a large stone in the bosom of the plow to make it run 
more steadily, and I have sometimes done so myself. In such 
places there is some advantage in a heavy plow. Still, as a 
general rule, a heavy plow will be found about as disadvantage- 
ous as a heavy shovel, heavy hand hoe, chopping ax, grass scythe, 
or grain cradle. If a plow be made sufficiently strong it will be 
heavy enough to work well in most soils. 



214 Till: YOUXG FARMERS MANUAL. 

HOW TO TEST THE DRAUGHT OF PLOWS. 

423. An iii:;tnmiciit called a dyuamomcter is placed between 
the plow beam and draught chain, and the team draws by it as 
by a clevis. They are required to move at the rate of 2^ miles 
per hour, or 220 feet per minute. The dial and index of this 
instrument is graduated to represent a horse power when the 
team moves at the velocity just stated. For example — if the 
dynamometer indicates 300 pounds when the team is moving at 
the rate of 220 feet per minute, the force required is just equal 
to what is understood in mechanics as ** two-horse power." Now, 
if the speed of the team be increased from 220 feet per minute to 
440 feet, or 5 miles per hour, the dynamometer will indicate 600 
})Ounds instead of 300. This is the theory, and is probably cor- 
rect. 

424. When a man desires to have the dynamometer exhibit 
a light draught of his plow, he adjusts it to run at the desired 
depth, without drawing downward but very little on the gauge 
wheel at the end of the beam. Tiien he drives the team as slowly 
as he can make them move, and at the same time lifts on his 
plow handks and thrusts forward, as if he was shoving the plow 
by hand. In this way the draught of a plow will be exhib- 
ited by the dynamometer nmch less than ihe correct draught. 
On the contrary, if he desires to make it appear that some otiier 
pltjw draws harder than his own, he v/ill adjust it to run a little 
too dc'p, then bear down heavily on the handles, which increases 
the draught, and drive the team much faster than 220 feet per 
minute, when the dynamometer will leave the 300 pound figure 
and stand at 400 or 450 pounds. 

425. The theory is that a certain amount of force is required 
to draw a plow 220 feet per minute. Now, if that resistance 
and friction in cutting the furrow slice loose and turning it over 
be overcome in less time, the force must be increased. 

don't plow heavy soils too eakly in the spring. 

426. By too early,! mean before the soil has settled or is in 
a proper condition to turn up mellow and lively. Ground should 



THE YOUNG F IRMER's MANUAL. 215 

a]wa3's be allowed to settle after it has been frozen before it is 
plowed. The soil is rendered lighter and more porous by freez- 
ing and thawing: and after it has been frozen and thawed it 
settles back to its original compactness. Therefore if it be 
plowed before it has settled, it will settle after plowing; and in 
a short period of time will be as compact as if it had not been 
plowed at all. But let it be plowed or spaded after it has settled 
to its former compactness, and it will remain mellow and friable 
for a long time unless it is excessively wet. 

427. Every farmer should make some estimate of his plowing 
and sowing, in order to know how many days will be required 
to complete this branch of business; and then, if the weather is 
nnfnvorable and the soil too wet, plowing may be delayed some- 
times for a longer time, or until the soil is in a proper condition 
to be plowed and harrowed. These considerations are of far 
more importance where clay predominates in the soil than where 
the soil is sandy and loamy. As soon as the frost has disap- 
peared from the soil, and it has settled and become so dry that it 
will not adhere to one's feet, it is in a good condition to be 
plowed, as it will pulverize more thoroughly if plowed about that 
time, than it will if it be plowed before it has settled. Where 
soils are apt to become lumpy, or to bake, it is very important 
that they should be plowed at a time when they are just moist 
enough to crumble well when the plow breaks them up. 

428. In case a field is inclined to be a little too wet, it would 
be far better, both for the soil and the crop, to defer plowing it 
for a week or more than to plow it early, when the furrows roll 
up like huge slabs of putty. Ground may be plowed for Indian 
corn during this month, in some localities, more advantageously 
than next month ; although, as a general rule, it will be best to 
defer plowing for that crop until the time to plant the seed has 
nearly arrived. Where the soil is heavy and in sod, and free 
from noxious weeds, let it be plowed as soon as practicable after 
the frost has disappeared from the ground. Many of the fields 
on the slopes of our lakes, where the soil is heavy, ought to 1)3 
plowed as early as practicable in the spring, because the work 



216 THE YOTTNT. FARMER's MA>TtTAL. 

can be peiTormed so mucli better — the furrows can be cut of a 
more uniform depth, and the soil will pulverize better — than it 
would if the plowing were deferred until later in the season. 

429. When the soil is light, mucky, sandy, or gravelly, 
plowing maybe done at almost any period. But it is far better 
to let teams stand idle, and' plowmen do nothing, than to plow 
heavy soils too early in the spring, when a spring crop is to be 
put in without plowing a second time. I am familiav with many 
kinds of soil that may be plowed with decided benefit as soon as 
the frost is out, before it has settled, if it is to be plowed again 
before seed time. I will mention instances in point, and the ad- 
vantage. On the slopes of many of our lakes, where there is a 
large proportion of gravelly, calcareous clay, if it be plowed be- 
fore it settles it will turn up mellow — if there is not an excess of 
water — and the plow cau be run at a more uniform depth than if 
the soil had settled. Then, just before the crop is put in, plow 
again. I have always observed that soils of this character, when 
managed in this way, would continue mellow much longer, and 
produce better crops than when plowed but once either early or 
late in the spring. 

ABOUT TEMPERING PLOW IRONS- 

430. The ignorance and credulity of farmers are often im- 
posed upon in the most outrageous manner by blacksmiths, who 
temper plow coulters and steel points, as well as by manufacturers 
who make cast-iron shares. In the 1st vol., p. 325, I discussed 
the merits of cast-iron points. Here I shall expatiate on steel 
points. 

431. S ome manufacturers use a very poor quality of American 
steel on points on their steel plows, and give them a low temper 
also. Consequently the points wear out almost as soon as if they 
were made of wrought iron. No plow will run well with a dull 
point except in very soft ground. Furthermore, when plow points 
are resharpeued with poor steel, and not tempered properly, it be- 
comes necessary t;) sharpen them quite often, which is somewhat 
expensive. Cast-iron plow points, if made of hard iron, with the 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 217 

edges cold-chilled, as directed, Yol. I., p. 325, will wear better 
and be less expensive than steel. But when a farmer has 
concluded to use steel points, he should procure good English 
Blister, and have the blacksmith use charcoal instead of mineral 
coal for heating it, and stand by him and see that he gives it a 
hard temper, (See How to Temper Edge Tools, Vol. I., p. 3T1.) 
Tiie correct temper for a plow point and coulter is as hard as a 
stone-cutter's tools for drilling and dressing granite. Then they 
will wear well. A man can temper such things himself by 
following the directions in Yol. I., 532. A sky-blue temper is too 
soft for plow points. It should be of a straw color, and if a 
point is rather thick, the color may be a little higher than straw 
color — merging into white, or the lightest color. 

432. The reason why charcoal is superior to mineral coal for 
heating steel is, it does not furnish so intense heat as mineral coal, 
as the latter will often burn steel before it is sufficiently heated 
tb.rough and thrt)ugh. A charcoal fire heats thick pieces of steel 
gradually without burning the surface. Put a plow coulter or 
l)oint in the cook stove, when blacksmiths are at a distance, and 
as soon as it exhibits a red heat plunge it into cold water till cool. 
Apply a file to it, and if the file cuts it, heat it a little hotter, and 
cool as before. Some steel requires more heat than others. There- 
fore if the temper is not right, heat the steel again and cool it 
initil it is hard enough. 

BREAKING PRAIRIE. 

"Now, the strong plow, among the jngged roots, 
Oft stalled with difficulty, turns beueith 
The black and antique mould." Read's New Pastoral. 

433. The chief point of difference between pioneers of our 
western world, with reference to breaking prairie, is the; lime 
when it is best to plow, and the most suitable depth. One man 
contends that it is best to use a strong team and plow deep; 
while another, whose authority is equally good, maintains that 
it is better to plow shallow. My own opinion ou this suliject is, 
that when prairie is broken in the spring, and a crop is to be raised 



218 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

Oil it immediately, sliallow i)lo\ving' is best, because the o^rass h 
speedily killed at the top, and the lower roots are smothered. If, af- 
ter taking a summer corn crop from this, it is turned deep under, the 
new soil brought up is ameliorated by winter freezing, and is then 
ready for spring crop. If the deeper new soil that has long lain 
below the free access of air be turned up and planted to corn, 
it will not do well. If plowed deep in early summer, and left thus, 
it will be moderately fitted for autumn or spring wheat, and the 
slowly decaying sod beneath will furnish a good seed bed as well 
as food for the wheat roots. We should therefore say, that the 
question depends very much upon the relative importance of the first 
season's corn crop as compared with that of the following wheat 
crop. If a good yield of corn is imperatively necessary to a 
new settler, let him break shallow at first and deeper afterward. 
If he can wait for the wheat, and also to get the best possible 
fuUbre condition of the soil, let him at once mix the surface sod 
with the lower soil, some of it at least as deeply as possible. 

434, A correspondent of the American Agriculturist, who 
professes to have had much experience, says: " Breaking prairie 
is a work accompanying pioneer life, and as oxen are the best 
teams for pioneers, they are best to break up prairies. Horses, 
to do much at the business, must have a good supply of grain or 
they will run down, and grain is a costly article with pioneers, 
while prairie grass is most abundant. Strong ox teams may be 
hurried throughout the proper season of breaking (say from fifty 
to sixty days, commcnchig as soon as thore is a full bite of grass 
for the teams) and yet increase in flesh. I have broken 15 acres 
by the week, with five and six yoke, without reducing the condi- 
tion of my team. To do a first -rate business at breaking in 
timber lands or *' barrens," much of the team should have horns, 
because in all such places the plow should go as near a foot deep 
as possible. Two pioneers being neighbors, and having between 
them four yoke of good cattle and some steers, may unite their 
forces, and break more and far better, with such a team, and the 
right kind of aploiv, than three men, each plowing with a span 
of horses, would be at all likely to break. Some dozen years aijo 



THE YOrNO farmer's 5TAXUAL. 219 

I remarked to a friend, who was breaking in " the barrens," with 
rather a light team, thit he had better increase his tea n, so as to 
break his ground fully twice as deep. After debating the ques- 
tion at length, he added six head to his team, and broke accord- 
ingly. Several years afterwards, that friend assured me that the 
line where the depth of breaking was doubled, had been manifest 
in every crop he had grown upon it since. 

435. Experience and observation justify me in saying to all 
who can open farms, where the soil and climate are similar to 
that of Illinois, break or plow all the rich loams at least one foot 
deep. This is imperative, if they would grow abundant crops of 
corn. No good farmer should aim at less than 70 or 80 bushels 
to the acre, which is more than twice what Illinois farmers com- 
monly get. If any one will manage his corn field "first ratii" 
in all respects, I will add 20 bushels to the above, as whit he 
may reasonably aim to secure without using a hoe after planting. 
Such plowing will also very much increase the yield of most of 
other crops, small grains and grass. In light, sandy soils, turn- 
ing up the ground 12 inches deep, might not only faij to pay 
well, but might be in some cases deleterious on account of let- 
ting fertilizers sink too deep into the ground. Let me further 
say to the pioneer who is constrained to break shallow, and as 
late as in the month of June, to grow a crop of sod corn: Get 
for seed either Canada flint, Rhode Island premium, squaw 
corn, or some kind which will mature in sixty days. I have put 
out such as I got fj-om the Indians, called squaw corn. The 
ground was broken as late as the 12th of June, less than two 
inches deep, and the yield was very good. It ripened fully in 
August. Still, had July and August of that year been as dry 
as those months often are, it is not likely I should have got my 
Gced back. Twenty year.:; ago I deemed that the best breaking 
which was the shallowest, and boasted that I could cut and 
cover at less depth than two inches. Even now, I have no doubt 
this depth is about right for the special purpose of putting in a 
crop of icheat the same season, before the autumnal equinox. Yet 
even then, I thought it well to go three or four times as deep in 



220 THE YOUXG FARMER^S MANUAL. 

cross-plowing the ground for corn." John E. Darby, Muscatine 
Co., Iowa, writes: " The first point of importance is the season 
of the year for breaking, this may vary slightly in different years, 
but as a general rule, the very best is the month of June. Th'j 
operation may be commenced as soon as the young grass is 
sufficiently started for pasturage, and be continued until harvest. 
This gives a range of time from the middle of May until the 
middle of July, If done earlier, weeds sprout up through the sod ; 
tlie grass also comes up, and renders it tough to work the next 
year. If later, the -sod does not rot sufficiently for wheat, though 
it generally lies clean and brings good corn. I can see no dif- 
ference in the rotting, whether left smooth or rough ; but it is 
far pleasanter working smooth ; and a plow laying a smooth 
furrow runs lighter. New sod is good for almost any field 
crop, and gives the surest chance for spring whaat, wiiich is 
never or rarely injured by chinch-bug or rust, and less liable to 
smut. Wheat is sown on the sod as soon as possible in the 
spring, always without stirring, but thoroughly harrowing, which 
is easily done if the sod has been properly broken, and at the right 
time. For corn, tiie sod must be re-plowed in the spring. This 
is easily done, if the sod is well rotted, and it generally will be 
if broken in June; but if the sod is a little tough or raw, a rolling 
cutter is of great use. Plow an inch or two deeper than the 
breaking, and proceed as on sward in the east. Another thing 
of importance is, to break as shallow as possible; 2^ to 3 
inclies is suffiiiient, the sod rolling better than when broken 
deep. In " roughs" or bushy land, it must necessarily be broken 
deeper. Another point is, to have the lani freshly burned, if 
possible; mark it off, burn the old grass, and break immediately. 
If the grass gets too high, the sod does not rot so well. 

436. " A word as to mode. Breaking prairie was formerly 
almost exclusively done with ox teams, from 3 to 6 yok^js to a 
plow, the plow cutting from 18 to 28 inches. Tiiis mide it 
necessary to employ regular * breakers,' as not every one could 
afford to keep such a team; but now, smooth prairie is frequently 
broken with two or thrco good horses — if three, worked abreast. 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 221 

A plow of 10 to 12 inches cut, and of sharp wetlTre-like form, is 
used, and some prefer this kind of breaking. I have done con- 
siderable in this way, and with two medium horses can break 
from 1 to 3 acres per day. A poor man can thus make a farm 
with little expense beyond his own labor." 

437. Mr. John W. Barrett, Pierce Co., Wisconsin, writes: 
''The best time, or 1 might say the only time to break up prairie 
land, is from the 1st day of June to the 20th of July. The reason 
is, that broken before June, the grass does not get a good start, 
and it will turn and grow through the breaking. If it is June 
and July, the grass has a start, and when breaking is done 
witii a hot sun on it, is sure to rot. Have the sod all turned 
over, and let it be as rough as possible to make it, as when in this 
condition it is more easily torn up and prepared for seed harrow- 
ing in the spring. Wheat is preferable for the first crop, and 
also for the second. My own practice is to break my land in 
June, then sow turnips or ruta baga seed, which usually pays 
for the breaking. The following s})ring I use a large cultivator, 
dragging it over twice again, which is sufficient if the land is 
broken at the right time. The sod rots better when rough than 
when laid smooth and even." 

438. " Why will not ' wild ' prairie sod rot like that of ' tame * 
grasses at the west and east ?" is a question we repeatedly 
asked, and received the response that the roots of wild grasses 
and weeds are so tenacious of life that they cannot be effectually 
killed and the sods made to decay if turned under deep. In 
opposition to this view we have a single fact to present, and our 
prairie readers may draw their own conclusions. Mr. Theodore 
Gexxekt, of Livingston County, Illinois, plowed the land for his 
beets and for a considerable corn-field to the depth of 10 or 12 
inches, the latter l)eing reached whenever practicable. Double 
]Miehignn plows were used, and the to]) paring of sod was cover^^d 
with 9 iiiclies of mould. Mr. G 's beets were the only good field 
crop we saw in Northern Illinois in October, and his corn, though 
"sod corn," and somewhat damaged by the frost, was by far 
better than any corn raised ou old land which we saw in that 



222 

region. It stood tlic dronj^lit woll, and a large portion of tlie 
crop was so far matured as to be nninjurcd by the frosts of 
August and September. 

WIDE PS. NARROW FUUROW SLICES. 

439. Every good plowman knows that it requires so:noti:n3S 
twice the amount of force to draw a plow to cut the fifst furow 
than is necessary after one furrow has been made. The reason of 
tiiis is, the first slice must be cut out of the solid ground, and the 
whole of it raised as high as the plow runs in depth; and the side 
pressure on the land side and mould board, besides the friction 
arising from other sources, is sometimes equal to the power of one 
horse. This is especially true when turning the first furrow slic3 
in sod ground that is hard and dry. The writer has often been 
obliged to run the plow three times across the field in one 
place, before one furrow could be made of the desired depth. 
This was because the ground was so hard and dry, a team could 
draw the plow only a few inches deep. But after one furrow 
was made, the team could cut a furrow the desired depth with 
comparative ease, by adjusting the plow to take a slice only a 
few inciies wide. When a plow cuts a wide furrow slice, the 
draught is increased with the width, until the same amount of 
force is required that is essential to plow the first furrow through 
unbroken ground. For this reason, when the ground is hard 
and dry, unless a plow is set to cut very narrow slice-:, more team 
must be employed. But by using a short ox yoke, or a short 
double whiffletree, so that the plow may be made to cut only 
four or six inches wide, and by having a sharp coulter on the 
plow set as far back towards the throat or standard of the plow 
as it can be conveniently, a single team can plow hard and dry 
ground as deep as a double team, but not so fast. Still, tho 
pulverization would be much more complete. When a double 
team is employed to jdow hard and dry ground, if there is only 
a limited proportion of clay in it, the slices will frequent ly tm-u 
up in large clods, and require much rolling and harrowmo- to 
pulverize them. But by using a good coulter, set back of the 



THE YOUXG farrier's MANUAL. 223 

plow point, and plowing about org third of an acre per day, the 
work may be performed of a uniform depth ; and the pulveriza- 
tion will be more complete than if the same soil were spaded. 
If the coulter be placed forward of the plow point, as it usually 
is for ordinary plowing, it will keep the plow from entering the 
hard ground readily. The plow point should enter three or four 
inches first, so as to make the plow run steadily. If the coulter 
be sharp, and in the correct position, it will shave off and pul- 
verize a few inches in width more effectually than the plow alone. 
We have known farmers to plow heavy dry soils in this manner 
ten and twelve inches deep, cutting slices only three inches wide, 
with a single team. 

POOR PLOWING IN AMERICA. 

440. The first thought of a good farmer from Europe, when 
he sees how we plow in America, is, "what wretched work !*' 
A Canadian farmer attending one of our State Fairs went to 
the plowing match with a view of witnessing a specimen of nice 
work; and the prize plowing was so much inferior to the ordi- 
nary plowing wliere he had resided, that he exclaimed with no 
little astonishment: " You don't call that premium plowhig ?" 

441. It is a shameful reproach to American farmers that they 
are such poor plowmen. For the most part, the plowing is per- 
formed in a most shabby mangier. If the plow runs in nearly beam 
deep, or only two inches deep, or if it cut a wide or narrow furrow 
slice, it is all the same. And if they are as crooked as a 
doubled-and-twisted ram's horn — ** all right. Crops will grow 
just as well as if every furrrow were as straight as a mathematical 
line.^ This is the reasoning of American farmers, as a class. 

442. Some of the reasons why we see so much poor plowing 
in America are, the plowmen possess little skill and no ambi- 
tion to excel in performing a piece of work in a neat and thorough 
manner. This is the main reason Another reason is, the sur- 
face of the soil is left so rough and uneven, that it is impracti- 
cable for a good plowman to do the work well. Furthermore, 
many plows are not at all adapted to the kind of plowing; are 



22-i THE YOU>^fi farmer's MAXUAL. 

not properly adjusted; the team is not hitchel right to them; 
and tliey are seldom in good running order. All these iniper- 
fections operating together against good plowing, are the mean^ 
of performing the work in a very unskillful, and many times 
inefficient manner. 

THE ORIGINAL FORM OF THE PLOW. 

443. The shape of the mould board has elicited much discus- 
sion on the part of manufacturers. The original form of the plow 
was such as to simply loosen a few inches in depth of a portion 
of the surface, without any reference to inverting the sod. Then 
the thought was conceived of a form of plow that would not only 
break up, but move the entire soil just as it would be if a plow 
were to simply slide the furrow slices sidewise without turning 
them over. After this a piece of hard wood was dressed out in 
the form of a mould board, and attached to the wooden block, 
which subserved the use of the land side, and both were covered 
with narrow plates of iron; but somotimes there was no iron at 
all on the mould board. As the mould board was made of hard 
wood, having but little twist, it would last many years, as there 
was not much friction between it and the furrow slice. Specimens 
of this kind of plow are preserved in the New York State Ag- 
ricultural Hall, at Albany. The standard of this wooden plow 
consisted of a strip of tough, hard wood, about four or five inches 
wide and an inch and a quarter thick, passing through the beam 
and the block of wood for the land side, with a &tr mg iron bolt 
forward of it. The point of this style of plows was laid with 
steel, and I have often heard plowmen remark that the point was 
taken every day, while the team was eating, sometimes three 
miles to the blacksmith's shop to be sharp3uel. With such rude 
implements as this our fithers plowed the soil for crop?. 

THE PEACOCK PLOW. 

444. Yankee invention soon supplanted the wooien plow al- 
luded to in the preceding paragraph, by introducing an iron plow 
having a mould board and landside of thick laud iron hannnered 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 225 

out in a very rude manner. Farmers looked upon this plow, when 
compared with the wooden " Bull Piow/' as the height of per- 
fectibility in this kind of implement. The standard of this plow 
consisted of a strong- iron bolt, passing through ears or flanges on 
the mould board and landside, and up through the beam, with a 
nut on the up[)er end above the beam. Such pluvrs were used 
only where the fields were free from obstructions, such as stumps, 
fast stones, and strong roots. 

wood's improvement. 

445. I have often heard it remarked that Jethro Wood was 
a " whittling Yaiikee." He would whittle potatoes hour after 
hour in the form of miniature plows. At length he disclosed the 
idea of having a cast iron mould board and cast-iron standard in 
one unbroken piece of metal. His potato plow showed our im- 
proved plows in embryo. It was one of the best inventions ever 
made. It would be interesting to read the difficulties he en- 
countered, and the obstacles he surmounted, in getting his patterns 
made; and, after they were made, how he persevered against a 
torrent of opposition to get them moulded and cast. Sometimes 
he found it necessary to give the moulders a bonus before he 
could induce them to attempt to mould them. Moulders, at that 
time, did not possess that degree of skill which is now manifested. 
Kow mechanics can mould and cast almost any form. Then, if a 
man coiild mould patterns as straight as sleigh shoes, he thought 
himself ** wondrous smart." The cast-iron standard was Mr. 
Wood's invention, and secured to him by Letters Patent. 

HUTCHINSON'S IMPROVEMENT. 

446. IMathias Hutchinson, Genoa, Cayuga Co., N Y., in 
about 1855 brought out a plow with the cast-iron standard 
and landside in one whole piece, as represented by the accompany- 
ing illustration. The excellence of this invention consists in hav- 
ing a large, open throat, which effectually prevents clogging. I 
have used one of this kind of plow on my own farm, and I liked 
it very much. When plowing under coarse manure we would 

10* 



226 TiTR Youxcx farmer's MVN'L\VL, 

often approach a lot of stubble and straw, which, one would 
think, would surely clog the plow, but it would always slip one 




A MOULD -BOARD VrEW OF HUTCHINSON'S PLOW. 

side as soon as the plow began to feel it. I never met with a 
plow that would run deep and shallow, cut narrow and wide, 
turn sod and stnbble, without carrying earth on the mould board, 
and perform work as well as this plow. Still there may be better 
plows than this, I witnessed its operation at a plowing match at 
Auburn, N. Y., in 1862. I was chairman of the committee. We 
selected a hard, calcareous, stony soil, where a plowman would 
often be taken clcai' from the ground by the jostling of the plow. 
Some of the plowmen " backed out" after they had commenced, 
A celebrated steel plow, working on the next land to this plow, 
did very satisfactory work. But Hutchinson's plow surpassed 
everything on the ground, and plowed its assigned task in a most 
superior manner. 1 have no pecuniary interest at stake which 
mduces me to commend this plow. The inventor says in a private 
letter to me, which 1 take the libevty to insert here: " No patent 
has ever been issued on said improvements. The inventor desires 
them to ha free to all. A caveat was fded and model sent to the 
Patent Office in 1855. Said plow was intended for deep plow- 
ing in sward land. Five years afterwards he made a plow of all 
work, intended to turn stubble as well as sward. This is not so 
long, spreads wider, and is lighter than the fii'st pattern. The 
mould board is constructed on the principle of the screw and 
wedge combined. The forward part approaches the form of the 



THE YOUN'G FARMER S MAXUAL, 



22T 



wedgp, and rises and spreads at nearly the same angle; but the 
greater part is a section of a screw, slightly increasing towards 
the extreme wing. 

447. One distingnisliing feature of tin's plow is, the attach- 
meut of the standard to the land side, as represented in the cut, 




LAiroSIDE VIEW OF HUTCHINSON S PLOW. 



which prevents it from being choked out of the ground by 
stubble. It is of light draft, and is easily guided in proportion to 
the amount of ground it moves. It breaks the furrow less than 
some plows, and carries no 
dirt on the mould board, even 
in mucky ground, after being 
scoured smooth. This, how- 
ever, is the testimony of those 
who have used it most. Being 
long and *' clipper built," it is 
well adapted to turning a deep 
furrow in stiff clayey lands. 
The edge, including the point, 
is nearly twenty inches long, 
and cuts, when new, over 
twelve inches wide. This is 
useful in cutting off Canada 
thistle, clover, and other deep 
roots, as it lessens the draft of the plow and apsists in turning the 




FKONX VIEW OF KXTTCHrNSON'S PLOW. 



228 THE YOUNG FARMER*S MANUAL. 

furrow in sward, it being more easy to cut than to tear off the 
bottom of tlie furrow slice, especially wliou full of roots." The 
inventor, M. Hutciiixson, King's Ferry, P. 0., Cayuga Co., N.Y., 
lias been accustomed to forward a set of castings to be fitted up 
for patterns, to any one who desires to manufacture this kind of 
plow. 

THE BEST FOIIM OF PLOW FOR HEAVY SOILS. 

448. The Mark Lane Express suggests, by way of interro- 
gatory, how is it that the round, ragged, shapeless furrow-slice 
produces a liner crop than the finely-formed rectangular one ? 
How is the fact to be accounted for, that the squeezed sod is less 
fertile than the one whose appearance is less promising, in the 
estimation of amateurs, whose knowledge is more confined to 
book routine than the results of seed time and harvest ? And 
since the fertility of the land is more a chemical than a mechanical 
question, how, again, on the other hand, do we account for the 
opposite result — that the sod which gets the greatest amount of 
shaking, breaking, frittering, and meclianical teasing, yields the 
largest amount of the best quality of corn ? In fine, as two 
questions are obviously involved, and, therefore, are raised for 
solution, viz., a chemical proposition and a mechanical one, what 
is the peculiar relation that exists between them ? If it be the 
fact that the primary object of cultivation for the production of 
the various agricultural crops is a well pulverized soil and porous 
subsoil, then the farmers ought to draw out the ingenuity of our 
agricultural mechanics by giving prizes for those plows that will 
invert without smoothing and smearing the under strata, and 
most effectually pulverize the greatest quantity of land a given 
depth with the least amount of power, instead, as the present 
practice is by all our agricultural societies, awarding prizes to 
those plows that cut out a furrow with all three of its cut sides 
well smoothed and smeared up, and turned over in as unbroken a 
state as possible, so that it will shine from one end to the other, 
like a well-moulded piece of concrete, and the bottom of the fur- 
row well polished by the friction of a broad soled landside and 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 229 

wrest, thus rendering the under strata almost impervious to air 
or water. If we could have a plow so made that it would, in 
the act of inverting the furrow slice, break it into pieces, and pass 
over the bottom of the furrow without the friction of any smooth 
surface of iron or other material being drawn over, closing up all 
the pores and fissures in the under strata, I think there is little 
doubt but such a plow's cultivation would approach (when per- 
formed at equal depths) fork cultivation. There are a great 
many of the best farmers who are of opinion that it is a great 
advantage to have the furrows turned as completely over as pos- 
sible. But the great evil is, that when the plow is set to turn 
the furrow thus, they require so much harrowing to prepare the 
land for the dibble or the drill; but such would not be the case 
if we had plows that, in the act of turning over the furrow, 
would well crack, rend, and break it, and completely invert it, 
and cut it up from the under strata witliout smoothing the bottom 
of the furrow, and closing all the pores and fissures." 

449. Returning to the first proposition, all the interrogations 
may be answered by the remarks in paragraph 320. The me- 
chanical operation must always precede the chemical. The chemi- 
cal is, in a great degree, dependent on the mechanical. Conse- 
quently, if the mechanical part be poorly performed, it is impos- 
sible for the elements of nature to complete the chemical portion. 

450. Taking a philosophical view of the operation of jilowing, 
the mind dwells on three distinct points, viz.: — cutting the furrow 
slice loose, turning it over, and pulverizing it. The great pro- 
portion of power is consumed in cutting the slices loose, not only 
on the side, but the bottom of the slice. After it is cut loose 
very little power is required to invert it. Now, in order to ac- 
complish this with the least force, the point and wing of the 
share must rest as flat on the ground as is practicable. In thii 
position tlie plow enters much easier than if the furrow slice 
must begin to rise as soon as the share com nencos entering the 
soil. On this single portion of the plow, inventors have mani- 
fested a great want of underst.inding of correct mechanical prin- 
ciples. Most of the plows of our country are defective in this 



230 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 



respect. The Aving- of the sliare stands so steep that the furrow 
slice mast beg'hi to rise before the sliare has entered a single 
inch. Any schoolboy can perceive at a glance that this is a great 
imperfection in the most desirable fi)rm of a plow. The fur;ow 
sh"ce ought to be separated at least two inches before it rises 
much. If a plow were of such a form we should often be sur- 
prised to see what a small force would cut a furrow six inches 
deep in a heavy soil. 

mead's conical plow. 

451. The accompanying iliustraticn of a plow represents a 
recent improvement made in the form of the common plow, which 
approximates tlie nearest to the correct form of a plow of any 
plow within my knowledge. It will be seen by the figure that 



., / N 




head's cokical plow— application of the cone. 



the mould board is made to fit the frustrum of a cone, as shown 
by the dotted lines, with the large end of the cone foiw ird. A 
log of wood turned round, of the form shown by the dotted 
lines, will fit closely to the surface of the mould board, from the 
highest point to within about two inches of the cutting edge of 
the wing of the share. The lower dotted line represents tho 



THE YOUXG PWRMERS MANUAL. 



231 



point where the furrow slice be.i^ins to rise. Th? first two inches 
above the lower dotted linu rises but little. Tnerefore several 
inches of the furrow slice are separated completely before it rises 
much. 

452. Another perfect point in the correct form of this plow is, 
the surface is neither concnvo nor convex. Consequently, the 
friction between the mould board and furrow slice is uniform. It 




MEAD S CONICAL PLOW COMPLETE. 



is no greater in one place than in another. AVIien a mould board 
is concave, as a large proportion of them are made, when plow- 
ing light soils the moist earth is very liable to adhere in the 
lowest place, and prevent the slice from slipping well. When the 
mould board is made convex, the greatest pressure of the slice 
comes on the most prominent portion, while light earth is liable 
to stick to certain parts of the mould board. 

453. Tiie inventor, Mr. Solomon Mead, who is a practical 
plowman, describes liis improvement thus: "The Conical Plow 
receives its name from the mtithematical principles on which it is 
constructed — the concave or turning surface of the mould board 
being made to fit the surface of a cone, as represented above — 
the dotted lines showing the outline of the cone. The hroad end 
of the cone being to tho front, gives au ccisy separation and very 
gradual elevation to the fiu'row slice at the first — -which is 
usually the hardest part of plowing- — while the decreased size of 



232 



T^E YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 



tlie cone, and the consequent increased curvature of the mould 
board to the rear, serves to act conthiually on the turnhig furrow, 
increasing the rapidity of turuing as the power required to ac- 
complish it diminishes. An examination of the 'principles of this 
plow must convince all, tliat in this conical mould hoard the adjust- 
ment and distribution of power for overcoming the friction of 
raising and turning a furrow is completely balanced. I'he points 
of merit sought and secured by this plan of construction are — 
superiority of -work in completeness of turning, thorough pulveriza- 
tion of the soil, leaving the surface even and mellow, and ease of 
draft for the work done^ There are several sizes of this conical 
plow , and it appears to be admirably adapted to the wants of far- 
mers who like a short, easy-holding, and light-draft plow. As it 
is very short on the sole, it is better adapted to stony ground than 
plows with a long sole. 

ALLEN'S CYLINDER PLOW. 

454. This illustration represents a recent improvement in 
plows, brought out and manufactured by R. H. Allen, who de- 
scribes it thus : 




ALLEN'S PATENT CYLINDER PLOW. 



" This plow derives its name from the form of the mould board, 
which is a segment of a perfect cylinder, with its ends cut in the 
style of ordinary mould boards. Its lines are thus always horizontal 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 233 

to the surface of the land, and consequently it turns the furrow 
slice with the same unifomilty as a wheel on its axle, and with 
the least possible friction. The friction is still further reduced 
by the peculiar arrangement of the point or share, and landside, 
which, comI:)ined with its other improvement-, reduces the drauglit 
from one-fourth to one-third less than that required by the best 
class of plows now in general u^e. For lightness of draught, 
snnplicity of construction, ease of holding, and certainty of turn- 
Jng all soils of any required depth and width, it far surpasses any 
other plow. The capacities of the several sizes of the Cylinder 
Plow are as follows : The No. is a one-horse or very light two- 
horse plow, and will turn a furrow from 10 to 12 inches wide, 
and from 4 to t inches deep. No. 1 has one plain and one cutter 
share, both of which will cut a furrow 12 to 14 inches wide, by 5 
to 8 inches deep. This size is designed for rougher land and 
deeper tillage than the No. 0, and is a strong two-horse plow. 
No. 2 is larger, and similar to No 1, bat is easily drawn by two 
liorses; will cut a furrow 14 to 16 inches wide, and 6 to 9 inches 
deep. No. 3 has the mould board of No. 2, with a deep tiller 
landside, and a wide cutting share. It is a heavier plow, and 
more strongly wooded than No. 2, and can easily turn a furrow 
slice 16 to 18 inches wide, by 8 to 11 inches deep. All the above 
plows are capable of turning either flat or lap furrows, of any 
required lap, by using shares suited to various widths, all of 
which can be supplied; and every furrow miy be left concave on 
the under and convex on the uppsr side, which gives the lightest 
and most friable condition to the soil, admitting of easy and 
thorough pulverization by a light harrow or cultivator. The ad- 
dition of a .^KiM or FRONT PLOW, attached to the beam in front of 
the main plow, secures the deposit of all the sod or turf under 
the upturned soil, which, besides effectually covering all the 
grass, leaves the ground sufficiently light for sowing even without 
the use of the harrow. This may be attached to either of the 
foregoing plows." 



234 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

EARLY FALL PLOWI>fG V3. LATE FALL rLOWING, 

455. Mr. J. W. Clarke, an intelligent correspondent of tho 
Country Gcntletmn, penned the following siigj;estions on this 
subject; and I copy them to sliow wluit miy bd \7ritten in favor of 
plowing early in autum.i. My own opinion is, that plowing so 
early as August or S3pte.nb3L- will op3rate 0:1 the fcL-tility of th3 
soil too much like a sumii3r fallow, which should be practised 
only in certain instances for the eradication of noxious weeds, or 
for more effectually decomposing the vegetable matter, where 
there is a largo quantity of it in the soil. Every farm3r should 
look to the future eifects of a given system of agriculture, and 
not to that course which will mika the soil yield a large crop 
the next year, and lighter crops the year following. Mf. Clarke 
writes: " Passing by light sanly and blowing soils, and such as 
have but little vegetable or org.inic mould in the composition, we 
state it as a general rule, that every description of soil, from a 
light loam down through medium, strong and heavy loams, to 
stiff clay, is and of necessity must be far more beneiitted by being 
plowed early than late in the autumn. 

45G. We farm near the 44th degree N". L., and plow in S3p- 
tember. Our early plowed ten acre field luay have influenced 
those who have seen it, otherwise noL But what has had a far 
greater influence, was the fact that years of continuous cropping, 
with but very little manure returned to the soil, began to pro- 
duce serious symptoms of a decline in fertility. Tliis excited in- 
quiry; and a number of observing farmer.s, who had noticed that 
the earliest plowed ground produced — almost without an exception 
— rare exceptions being the result of bad after treatment — the 
earliest and bjst crops, began to consider the matter more tho- 
roughly. Tne idea, consequently, was supported of plowing still 
earlier; and in my town, which is composed of about one-third 
light loam, another third m3dium loam, and the renuaining third 
black mucky soil, not less than '2,000 acres were plowed before 
the lirst of October 1 ist, and this in consequence of the benefits 
known to have accrued to those farmers with like soil who plowed 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 235 

early in previous years. But tliis can be r#o example to tliose 
who have not seen it, except through the instrumentality of tho 
Agricultural Press; but this lever of advancement can make such 
cases of as much value to agriculturists in M wne or Nebraska as 
to those of an adjoining district or farm. 

45t. If, now, we look into the main subject a littb further, 
we find that the same general influences that promote rapid 
growth or recombination, when applying in fit proportions, 
namely, heat, air, and moisture— passing over light as implied in 
certain circumstances — promote also separation or decombination. 
Every farmer knows that his manure heap must have these in 
suitable proportions to effect its decomposition. Too much wet 
would stop the process of disorganization or decomposition, by re- 
ducing the temperature to a too low state ; too much heat would 
arrest decay by carrying out the moisture by evaporation, and 
too much exposure to air would result in drying the heap so as 
to prevent fermentation. And, what is very important, too little 
time would not admit of any combination of natural agencies ef- 
fecting the decomposition of the mass for its intended purpose of 
manure. Now, applying this illustration to the decombination of 
the soil, we shall see wherein the great advantage of early fall 
plowing consists. 

458. Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, says (and we 
have repeatedly advocated the same views in the Country Gen- 
tleman) — "The food of the plant must enter it in a state of 
solution, or, if undissolved, the 'par tides must he smaller than we 
can discover with the best optical aids; because the pores of the 
roots — and we say of leaves, also — of plants, are not discernible 
by any microscope." Consequently, particles of plant food must 
be made, by some means, so minute as to be even smaller than 
the pores of the roots and leaves themselves. Hence the neces- 
sity of pulverization and separation 

459. The question here occurs, why will early fall plowing 
promote this object much more effectively than plowing a month 
— more or less — later ? The aiiswer is, because more time, and 
a larger duration of the action of influential decomposing coudi- 



236 THE Youi^G farmkr's manual. 

tions do, iind must secure, to early plowed ground, a larger ef- 
fective result in the proportion that it is longer subject to their 
action, in preference to and comparison with soil that is plowed 
in the latter and colder part of the season. In short, supposing 
late fall weatiier w^^re even equally eifjctivo — though it is not — 
in decomposing the surface mould — ready for food for the next 
crop — it is clearly impossible for this to be done in as large a 
measure in only one month as in two. For the natural elements 
do not work spasmo.lically, but with steidy regularity. Nature 
not only does not do two days' work in a day, but she always 
does her work in a season. She does not mistake heat for cold, 
nor her September work for that of November. As in the case 
of the manure heap, she decomposes the surface soil most rapidly 
and eifectively when heat, air, and moisture are present in such 
measure and proportion as to effectually promote that result; 
and wise are her ways. 

460. It frequently happens that some part of tl>e autumn is 
dry; at whatever time the soil is too dry it decombines very 
slowly. If it be moist enough late in the fall for heat to rend the 
small clods and particles, by combining with and expanding their 
contained moisture, then there is too little heat to do this effect- 
ively. Bui if there be sufficient heat late in the autumn, there is 
not sufficient time for heat and water to do their work of expand- 
ing and separating. They cannot do a whole fall's work in a 
month. But in all our later autumnal weather there is always 
insufficient heat for the purpose of decomposition, as compared 
with the warmer weather of early autumn. 

461. Bat if arible grourid be plowed in September or earlier, 
it not only has sufficient time — ratiier than only half enough — but 
is put in a state for the most effectual combinations of heat, air, 
and moisture, to work out their joint functions in reducing it to 
a state of powder ''smaller than any nnicroscope can discern." 
Wherefore the chances are at least three to one in favor of 
an early plowed soil having its surface mould made fit to feed any 
crop that may be i)lantcd in it the ensuing spring, as comi^arcd 
with the more precarious chances of late plowed soils. 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 23T 

462. Furthermore, the closer, fiuer aad heavier soils are iu 
their composition, the more time and power, whether natural or 
mechanical, must be consumad in reducing them to a state of 
very minute fineness or impalpable powder, tit to feed plants with 
what they need. And clay and clay loams being more difficult of 
reduction to the minute state of impalpable particles fit for the 
ready absorption of plants than any more friable or lighter soils, 
it follows that clays and heavy soils generally need more time and 
natural and mechanical power to effect their reduction than such 
as are lighter and more easily cultivated. Early fall plowing 
affords not only more time, but more eff"ective and certain results* 
Hence, while all but the lightest are much benefitted by it, clayey, 
compact, adhesive soils are naturally and beyond doubt more im- 
proved in the conditions most important to growing crops than 
thoee of any other description." 

CRUSHING CLODS. 

463. If a farmer could plow all his land at just the right time 
to crumble down to best advantage, there would be no use for clod 
crushers. Where there are several acres to plow, and the 
weather continues dry from day to day, much of it will become 

•so dry that it will often turn up in large clods, in spite of all 
that can be done. When this is the case, it becomes necessary 
to make use of the roller and harrow alternately, until the hard 
lumps are reduced so fine that the rain will disintegrate them. 
If manure be hauled out in the spring, when the ground is wet, 
wherever the team poaches the wet soil — if it is a heavy loam, 
on calcareous clay — there will be more or less clods; as soon as 
the soil is plowed, and where the team passes sevcL-al times iu 
one place, there will often be so much lumpy earth, that it will 
hardly l)y practicable to get mellow dirt enough to cover a hill 
of corn. But the fault is not iu the farmer. His teams and 
vehicles must travel over t!ie soil, whether it is wet o;* dry. And 
even when the soil is thoroughly underdrained, and in a higli state 
of fei'tility, it will plow up in lumps. It is sometimes utterly im- 
practicable to plow a large field at the best time. Therefore, 



238 

since clods and lumps are unavoidable, we must adopt the most 
effectual and economical way to pulverize them. When they 
are hard and dry, tliey are hard to crush with any implement. 
Bnt soon after a heavy shower of rain, when the soil has dried 
sufficiently to prevent adhering to the roller or crusher, they miy 
be reduced to powder very effectually. Let a harrow follow 
the roller to bring up those that are partially burned, and roll 
the second time. If the roller be applied at the correct time, 
clods will give but little trouble. Where there are clods between 
rows of corn or potatoes, the best way to dispose of them is to 
turn out all hands with axes, clubs or mauls, and crusli them. 
A blow applied with the flat side of an ax will do the business 
as effectually as anything. When weeds and grass are small, we 
have found this practice almost equal to a dressing with hand 
hoes. When a field is not underdrained, and is excessively wet, 
and heavy animals have been allowed to travel over it, we can- 
not expect much else but hard lumps when it is plowed, 

464. I herewith copy whit a corresi)ondent of the Country 
Gentleman thinks about clods, simply to show that a man 
who has never worked on a clayey soil, thinks that if he sees a 
farmer managing differently on heavy soils from the usual custom 
with light soils, he don't know how to cultivate a soil properly. 
I would like to have the writer of the following suggestions 
manage a clayey farm a few years, and be obliged to haul out 
his manure, or not do it at all, when the ground is too wet to 
plow. Then I would like to have him read this specimen of 
ranting braggadocioism ; and then see if he could tell how to 
avoid that "mistake" he alludes to, by having 'Mumps to 
crush." He writes: "This is a bad business — bad because 
it is necessitated. Any man who has lumps to crush has 
made a mistake. There may be slight exceptions to tliis 
in severe drought; but on the whole, lumps have no business 
on a farm. A rich soil, properly and tivn'hj tilled, will never 
be lumpy. We, therefore, always look with suspicion upon the 
man who cultivates lumi)s. * But, you may crush them.' Ay I 
crush them ? You can xmwQY crush them. You can reduce the 



THE Yorxc farmer'3 maxual. 239 

large clods to smaller ones; but they are still clods, little 
brick-bats, and are worth about as much as sand to your crop 
— hardly as mucli, as sand will warm your soil (where that 
is necessary) — whereas lumps are so much absolutely dead 
matter on your land — so much foreign or intruding matter which 
small stones and sj,nd are not. Plow wet, ordinary or poor soil, 
and you are pretty sui'e of ' lmb3.' The harrow will rattle them 
nicely along for you — and it will do this not only one year, but 
several at the least — and if the wet plowing is continued, your 
soil will be pretty well spoiled. Only deep plowing, the action 
of manure, and the effect of frost — all in the absence of further 
wet plowing — will restore your soil — and then it will take years. 
It is one of the most painfal things in farming to see a man crush- 
ing clods. We will have no clod-crusher on our farm. Rather 
let your land lie unturned than work wet, or when hard and 
cracked after a long drought — which, however, is preferable to 
wet plowing. We do not half enough consider this matter. 
Not only plowing, but harrowing and cultivating are open to the 
same objection — but not to the same extent as plowing. Some 
soils are more readily drained than others. These are also less 
influenced by wet cultivation. Clay is the objectionable soil. A 
lumpy soil will not produce, and is a loss to a man greater than he 
imagines." 

ROLLING LIGHT SOILS. 

465. As many farmers discard the use of a roller for any kind 
of soil; and as I have alluded to the manner of using it on heavy 
soils, I here quote from the Country Gentleman a few thoughts 
on the management of the light soils in connection with a roller. 
To countervail the injurious effects of drouth on the hght soils, 
there is practically nothing so effectual as the inversion of a close 
compact sod. The plow to be used for this purpose should be 
one which completely inverts and shuts in the furrow slice. The 
plowing should be followed by a heavy roller; there is little 
danger of getting the sod too compact, for it keeps the rising 
moisture below it from escaping— the decaying vegetable matter 



240 THE YOUNG FABMER's MANUAL. 

of the sod, spong'O-like, retaining the moisture. The roots of the 
grain, grasses, or other crops upon the inverted soil, will pene- 
trate the moist sod and keep tlie plants fresh and green, while 
the same plants on similar soils destitute of the inverted sod, will 
suffer severely for lack of moisture. To obtain a close sod, red 
top and June grasses are the best. Some years ago we read 
in the New-England Farmer, some account of the great sticcess 
attending the cultivation of large tracts of poor worn-out pine 
lands in Northampton, by Col. W. Clarke, Jr. About that time 
we wrote to him upon the subject; in return, he kindly furnished 
the desired information. His course of culture was — " In the 
latter part of August and early part of September, with a good 
plow to completely invert the sod, if there was any, then press 
down the furrows with a heavy roller; harrow the ground and 
sow with timothy and red-top seed, and then again used the 
roller." He remarked, *' without the use of a heavij roller in the 
culture of these light soils, 1 consider them of little vahie; lut 
with its use, I think them the most profitable lands we have, ex- 
cept some of the alluvial soils, that annually or of:;cncr receive 
by freshets rich deposits of sedimentary matters.'' 

HOW LONG TO MAKE PLOW BEAMS. 

466. While there is a difference among some mannfactnrers 
of plows for determining the correct length of a beam,, many 
plow-makers have no regular rule for determining the length., and 
every beam is made " by guess." If a beam looks too long, it is 
cut off. There is a correct length for every plow beam, and if 
that length be increased or diminished, the draft or "balance" 
of the plow will be incorrect. We have ever maintained, that if 
a plow is constructed on correct philosophical and mathe- 
matical principles, with the beam of the right length, and the 
draught properly adjusted at the clevis, it will run alone and 
plow well, unless a stone or some obstruction throws it out. We 
have- made inquiry of manufacturers for more than twenty years, 
concerning the correct length for plow beams, and found it all 
guess work iu every instance but tlie following. Solomon Mead, 



TIIR YOUNG FAHMEk's MANUAL. 241 

a practical plowman, communicates to us a rule wliich he has 
adopted in determining the length of beams for his conical mould- 
board plows. In order to pat this principle to a correct test, we 
visited his farm, and had his N'o. 6 adjusted to run about 5 or 6 
inches deep, and to cut 10 or 11 inches in width. The drau2:ht 
ring was fixed at the middle of the end of the beam. Having 
adjusted it as nearly right as practicable we let it rua alone, and 
plowed around the laud some six or eight times in succession, 
without toucliing either of the handles, except at the ends of the 
land, in turning out and setting in. As the rule is not covered 
by a patent, any one can adopt it. This is the rule: Hold one 
end of a ten-foot pole, with no sag in it, on the share or mould- 
board at the supposed centre of resistance, a point 2 inches 
higher than the sole or bottom of the plow, and elevate the other 
end 4 feet and 2 inches, about the height of a horse's shoulders. 
If the beam is of correct length, a produced horizontal line (say 
the edge of a 2-foot rule) crowning the end of the beam will 
touch the edge of the pole held as above. If the length of the 
beam is increased, the forward end must be elevated, in order to 
be in the correct line of draught. When a plow is properly 
balanced, it will run as straight as the team travels, without 
holding. But wlien it turns quickly aside, either to the right or 
left, and the plowman is required to hold it constantly in posi- 
tion, it is a certain evidence that there is an imperfection in the 
mechanical construction of some part of the plow, or it is incor- 
rectly adjusted as to the clevis, guage wheel, length of traces, or 
draught chain. 

HARROWING SOILS. 

467. Farmers do not half harrow their ground. The harrow 
is dragged over it; but the work of harrowing is not half per- 
formed, except in a few instances. The work is not done thor- 
oughly. The harrow is designed to effect a more complete pul- 
verization of the soil than can be done with the plow. The har- 
row is in one sense a system of small plows, cutting narrow 
slices, and thrusting them a short distance sidewise, without 
lifting the soil and turning it over. As a general rule, harrowing 



242 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MAXUAL. 

is not done at the best time to pulverize tlic soil most thoroughly, 
especially where the soil is rather heavy. It is quite as essential 
to harrow a soil when it is between the wet and dry condition, as 
it is to plow it when it is just dry enout^h to crumble well. I 
was always accustomed to be more particular about harrowing 
at the right time, than plowing at the best period to pulverize well. 
Whenever a field was being plowed, whether in the spring, summer 
or fall, the best time for harrowhig was closely observed; and, as 
soon as the soil had dried sufficiently not to be sticky on the sur- 
face, the harrow was put in motion; and all the plowed ground 
harrowed as soon as practicable. This time would oftener occur 
when a field was only about half plowed. But the plowing 
would be discontinued; and the team hitched to the harrow; and 
the seed harrowed in as far as the plowing was finished, for the 
sake of having the harrowing performed at a time when the soil 
would work lively and fall to pieces at a slight touch of the har- 
row teeth. Let me reiterate the thou^-ht, that it is quite as 
important — as far as thorough pulverization is concerned — to 
speed the harrow when the soil is just dry enough to pulverize 
well, as it is to plow when it is neither too wet nor too dry. 

488. David Thomas, in an address in the Transactions of the 
New York State Agricultural Society, 1842, said: "I am satis- 
fied that we have been too saving of our hairows. Thirty years 
ago there was a method of plowing called ' cut and cover.' It 
was plowing not on shares, but to the halves — the furrow slice 
covering a space where the furrow ought to have been. I am 
apprehensive that our ideas of );arrowing were learned in the 
same school. After grain is sowed, is it not the prevailing 
opinion that it is harrowed enough, when it is covered ? I had 
a narrow land harrowed sixteen times in one day; and was satis- 
fied that the labor was well applied." Read the short Chapter 
on Harrows and Harrowing, Vol. I., and then resolve to harrow 
your ground more thoroughly in future. 

PAYING FARMING AND PLOWING- 

469. The reader may inquire what connection plowing has 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 243 

with paying farming"— the prominent theme of this boolj. I an- 
swer, good plowing lies at the very foundation of good farming. 
If the soil is not well plowed or pulverized with some implement 
equivalent to plowing, no farmer can expect to raise remunerating 
crops. If a fVirmsr performs his plowing in a cufr-and-cover, slip- 
shod manner, there is little prospsct that he will ever be arble to 
distinguish himself as a first-rate farmer. Good plowing must 
precede good crops If a man expects to raise abundant crops, 
when he plows decidedly bad, his expectations will eventually 
disappoint him. If a man is a good plowman, there is some en- 
couragement for hoping that he will make farming pay. But 
let me see a sleek, band-box farmer, who thinks much of nice 
fences, buildings and beautiful surroundings, and is not particular 
about his plowing, and I will point to a man who will eventually 
complain that farming don't pay. Americans are proverbially 
poor plowmen. If we see a nice piece of plowing done at our 
plowing matches, we find that it was done almost always by an 
Englishman or a Scotchman. We must plow better in America, 
or we can never expect to bring our agriculture to a paying and 
progressive cordition. 

SIDE- HILL PLOWS AND PLOWING. 

470. There are many different kinds of side-hill plows in exis- 
tence, some of which are long, heavy, and disagreeable to handle^ 
while others will not work well, except where there is a good 
slope. Some kinds are furnished with an iron flap at the upper 
edge of the mould-board, which prevents the loose earth from 
falling over the mouUl-board into the bosom of the plow. Side- 
hill plows are sometimes used for plowing level ground, by going 
directly back and forth across the field. ' But we cannot expect 
that a side-hill plow will turn the furrow slices as well as a plow 
having a single mould-board and a good land-side, although it 
may pulverize the soil quite a« well. 

471. Where land is plowed with a side-hill plow, or with any 
other plow, by turning the furrow slices down hill, in a few years 
a ridge of good soil will be formed at the foot of the hill j while 



244 



TIIK YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



at the top the surfiice soil will be turneJ from a wide space, leav- 
ing the subsoil quite bare. The soil over the entire field is moved 
downward about one foot every time a field is plowed. As it is 
constantly working down hill, in order to keep the ground 
smooth, an amount of soil equal to one furrow slice, should be 
hauled, every time a field is plo\ved, from the lower to the upper 
side. This will prevent tlie formation of a ridge at the foot, and 
a hollow or bare place at the top of a hill. 

472. The accompanying illustration represents a side-hill 
plow, made on the conical principle (see par. 451), just invented 




MEAD'S KEW CONICAI, SIDE-HIUCi PLOW. 



by Solomon Mead. From the appearance of the model, this 
side-hill plow will have no successful rival. I do not hesitate to 
recommend it to those farmers who are required to plow hilly 
land. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 245 



CHAPTER IV. 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS. 



" The stable yields a stercoraceous heap, 
Impregnated with quick fermenting salts, 
And potent to resist the freezing blast." Cowpek. 

473. With the exception of thorough drainage, the great want 
— tlie thing most needed in American agriculture — is manure or 
fertilizers of some kind. As a general rule, our cultivation is 
better than fertilization; and much of the cultivation of the soil 
is done in a most superior manner. And although superior culti- 
vation of the soil is, in part, a good substitute for manure, still 
some kinds of fertilizers are absolutely essential in order to 
produce remunerating crops and to keep the soil in a good state 
of fertility. And although the soil in many of our States seems 
to possess almost inexhaustible fertility, still the time will come 
wlien those fertile soils will fail to yield abundant crops, unless 
some kinds of fertilizers are applied to restore those elements of 
fertility which have been removed in the crops. 

474. But it is to barnyard manure, to clover, maize, ami 
other liome-made fertilizers, that American farmers are to \oo[i 
for material with wliicli to keep their farms in a good state of 
fertility, as well as for restoring those soils to agoodstjt.^ of 
productiveness, that are naturally barren, or that have been im- 
poverished by a long succession of exiausting crops, without 



246 THE TOUNG FARMER'S MAI^UATi. 

there having been anything returucd to tli3 n to compensate for 
those elements of fertihty that have produced the crops. 

475. Manure is the great motive power in American agri- 
culture, as well as in oriental countries. Without it, a farmer 
may have the best tools and implements that can be found; may 
drain his soils most thoroughly; and may cultivate them hi a 
most superior manner; but if he neglects to save and to apply 
the manure that may be made from the resources of his fann, 
sooner or later his soil will inevitably become impoverished. 

476. Therefore as manure is the great source of productive- 
ness on the maj rity of soils ; and as American farmers must 
depend, for the most part, not on foreign fertilizers, but on barn- 
yard manure, to maintain the fertility of their farms, my aim will 
be, in this chapter, to lay doAvn such rules and instructions (or 
saving and apj^lying barnyard manure, and other fertilizers, as 
will enable the young farmer to perform this part of agriculture 
in the most economical, successful and farmer-like manner. 

477. I will, by no means, decry foreign fertilizers, nor pen 
anything to discourage their application to the soil. Indeed, I 
approve highly of their use ; and shall give reliable directions 
for applying them. But the cliief idea will be to advocate the 
economical saving and use of the manurial resources of the farm 
first; and then, if guano, poudrette, superphosphate, or bone- 
dust is needed, let it be procured. 

478. I do not approve of purchasing any kind of fertilizers 
as long as a good proportion of the manure of the stables, the 
piggery, the hennery, and the privy is allowed to go to waste, 
either by leaching or by evaporation. And if a farmer is care- 
ful to collect all the fertilizing materials that his farm will afford, 
and to apply them to the soil in the most proper manner, the 
application of foreign manure will not be so necessary as it 
might otherwise appear to be. 

VALUE OP BARNYARD MANURE. 

479. Mr. John Johnston penned tlie following thoughts for 
the Country Genilemari on this subject, which coincide well 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL, 247 

with my own views : — " Every farmer knows, or ought to know, 
that barn-yard mannre furnishes all the elements of nutrition 
that are needful for any grass or grain that is grown in the 
northern latitudes, and, I presume, in southern also. It is true, 
if you manure highly with barn-yard manure for a number of 
successive years, that the straw will grow soft and weak, and 
the grain shrink ; but this may be remedied by the application 
of hme, at the rate of 40 to 80 or 100 bushels per acre. This 
will give a more elastic straw, and a brighter and plumper seed. 
But to apply only three to six bushels per acre, as recommended 
by some chemists, would be like giving a horse or an ox a gill 
of corn for a feed — its effect could not be perceived. The appli- 
cation of a barrel of salt per acre, to lands thus highly manured 
for years, will produce a similar effect, rendering the grain 
plump, and the straw bright and elastic." 

480. These observations are correct, with some qualifica- 
tions. If barn-yard manure were all madj of the same materials 
as Mr. Johnston is accustomed to use, which are hay, straw, 
cornstalks, cereal grain, or meal of that grain, and oil meal in 
abundance, these thoughts would be correct. But when barn- 
yard manure has been made of straw, cornstalks and a little hay, 
and a very small amount of grain, or none at all, it may be 
valuable manure, to appearance, but in reality it will be desti- 
tute of that amount of grain-forming substances which renders 
Mr. Johnston's manure so valuable. 

481. Manure that has been made of such materials will pro- 
duce a luxuriant growth of straw or of grass, but the kernels 
of grain will be sm .11. If one manures with straw, the crop of 
straw will be increased ; but in order to increase the quantity 
of grain, there must, of necessity, be material in the manure 
that will form grain. Therefore the value of barn-yard mauure 
for increasing a crop of grain will depend, in a great degree, 
upon the amount of grain that has been consumed by the animals 
that made it. 



248 THE YOUN^G farmer's MANUAL. 

SAVING MANURE. 

'♦ All manner of straw, that is scattered in yard. 
Good hiisbandly husbands have daily regard ; 
In pit, full of water, the same to bestow, 
Where, lying to rot, thereof profit may grow," — ^Tusser. 

482. Every thing that will make manure should be saved. 
It is poor policy, indeed, to have grain thrashed in the field, as 
thousands of farmers practice doing, and allow the straw to 
remain in a large pile to rot down, and waste away, and never 
distribute it over the field. It is equally bad policy to consume 
in feeding, and us3 up for litter, in the barn-yard and stables, all 
the products of the farm, and allow them to lie exposed to the 
influences of the weather — rain and sunshine, sometimes from 
year to year ; and the practice of having drains, nearly full of 
small stone, made in the middle of a barn-yard, or of having it 
so elevated that all liquid w'.ll be carried away — as thousands of 
farmers do — :s a practice to be strenuously avoided, if manure 
of the first quality is desired. In making barn-yard manure, it 
is better to have the manure just moist enough to make it rot 
well, and to prev^ent it from heating and becoming " fire-fanged." 

LIQUID MANURE. 

483. One of the most important considerations for the farmer 
to understand well, is the action of liquid manure in promoting 
the growth of plants. L^t us ask how manure promotes the 
growth of plants of any kind ? and who can give a correct an- 
swer ? Not one in ten, even among those who profess to know 
that fertilizers are very essential for the growth of grain, grass 
or weeds. 

484. Every atom of manure must become dissolved — must 
pass from a solid to a liquid state — before it can promote the 
growth of any plant, excc>it the mechanical injimnces which it 
exerts, while it is in a solid condition. Barn-yard manure must 
have water applied to it, to dissolve and wash out the little 
atoms of fertility, before th? roots of plants can absorb them. 
Roots cannot t;ike up so/ id m ittor. Every thing must be in a 



THE YOUNG FAR:MEr's MANUAL. 240 

state of liquidity. If guano, poudrette, or hen's dung be applied 
to the soil, rain must first dissolve those substances and carry 
them downward in the soil before they can be of any value as 
fertilizers. Bones must first be dissolved, and the little atoms 
must be carried into the soil, where the roots will absorb them 
and carry them up into the leaves. Gypsum will exert no per- 
ceptible iiiflnence on any plant until it is broken up, ground fine 
and then dissolved, before plants can be benefitted by it as a 
fertilizer. And so with the particles of soil, before they can pro- 
mote the growth of any plant, they must be dissolved in atoms, 
inconceivably small, and they must be in a liquid state. 

485. We have seen, in Par. 224, how soils aie formed by 
the disintegration of rocks. The rains and frosts are constantly 
in operation, preparing food for plants. The process is very 
slow, it is true ; but every shower of rain dissolves a little more, 
and a little more. And if the soil be stirred up and worked 
over often, this will greatly facilitate the dissolution of soHd 
portions of it. 

486. The intense heat of summer, and the rains, operate very 
powerfully in dissolving the solid particles of fertilizing matter 
in the soil ; and this is especially true where no crop is raised on 
a soil, as in summer fallowing. And on this principle we are to 
account for the fact, that a summer fallow will always produce 
a superior crop of wheat ; because, stirring the soil in hot 
weather, and the alternate showers and scorching sunshine pre- 
pare a great amount of nourishment, which the roots imme- 
diately take up ; and which promotes the growth and complete 
development of the crops that are raised on those soils. 

FERMENTATION OF LIQUID MANURE ESSENTIAL. 

487. From the foregoing considerations, one might suppose 
that if hquid manure — the urine of domestic animals, or of the 
human specie? — were applied to plants, it would promote a very 
luxuriant growth. But this is not so. Liquid manure, when 
applied to pla ;ts in a recent or rare state, will often exert a 
very injurious influence on their growth, as may be observed by 



250 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

Fpots of grass in pastures, completely killed, where some animal 
had discharged his urine ; and also by the feeble growth of 
plants in the garden that have been sprinkled with urine. Pure 
urine, unless it has been diluted with water, is a very poor fer- 
tilizer for promoting the immediate growth of plants ; and even 
then it will not be in a good condition to nourish young plants 
until it has '' rotted." 

488. The liquid manure that is washed out of unfermented 
barn-yard manure by rains is a very raw material, very much of 
the character of urine. And although it abounds in the best of 
nourishment for plants, it must be decomposed — it must be de- 
prived of its crudity by fermentation — before it will render to any 
plants that nourishment that it is capable of imparting. And 
if it be applied to the soil in a crude or unfermented state, it 
must undergo more or less fermentation before it will be in a 
condition to be taken up by the roots. 

489. We cook beef, pork, potatoes, flour, and other articles 
of food — not for the purpose of increasing the nourishment 
which those articles contain, but to render them more available. 
The nourishment is there, when articles are in a raw state, as 
well as after they have been cooked. But will they nourish our 
bodies as well without first being cooked ? So it is with recent 
or unfermented liquid manure ; the nourishment, the fertilizing 
matter is contained in it ; but fermentation is essential to changb 
it into a condition in which the nourishment will be available by 
any kind of plants. 

490. Now, if raw liquid manure be applied to the soil, it will 
undergo more or less fermentation in a short period of time. 
And as soon as fermentation has taken place, the fertilizing 
matter is in a condition to promote the growth of any kind of 
crops. 

PPvOFESSOU JOHNSTON ABOUT LIQUID MANURE. 

491. "Of natural liquid manures, the most important and 
valuable, though the most neglected, and the most wasted also, 
consists of the urine of man, and of the animals which he has do- 



THE YOUNO farmer's MANUAL. 251 

mesticated. The efficacy of ui-inc as a manure depends upon the 
quantity of solid matter which it holds in solution, and upon the 
nature of this solid matter, and especially upon the rapid changes 
which the organic part of it is known to undergo. 

492. It might be supposed at first that in all animals the 
quantity of urine voided would have a close connection with the 
quantity of water whicli each was in the habit of drinking. But 
this is by no means the case. Thus it is the result of expeii- 
raent, that in man the drink exceeds the amount of urine voided 
by about one-tenth part only, while a horse that drank 35 lbs of 
water in 24 hours gave only three pounds of urine in 24 hours. 
A cow which drank 132 lbs. of water in 24 hours gave 18 lbs. of 
urine and nineteen pour.ds of milk in 24 hours." 

493. Every teamster who has been accustomed to drive oxen 
and horses knows that horses void urine not very often, while 
oxen will urinate almost iucossantly. And although each team 
may consume an equal amount of grain and hay, there will be a 
very great disproportion in the amount of urine which will be voided 
by the horses and oxen. 

494. Experience has sliown that recent or fresh urine exer- 
cises in general an unfavorable action upon growing plants, and 
that it will act most beneficially after fermentation has freely 
begun. But the longer time we sufi'er to elapse after it has 
reached the ripe state, the greater will be the quantity of valuable 
manure we permit to go to waste. 

495. The quantity of ammonia retained by the urine after 
dilution was, in the same circumstances, nearly three times as 
great as when it was allowed to ferment in the state in which it 
came from the cow. But even by this dilution with water, the 
whole of the ammonia will not be saved. 

49G. Those, therefore, who scrupulously collect in tanks and 
preserve the liquid manure of their stables, cow-houses, and fold 
yardS; will see from the great loss which it undergoes by natural 
fermentation, the propriety of occasionally washing out their cow- 
houses with water, and by thus diluting the liquid of their tanks 
of preserving tlie iinmediately operating constituents of their 



252 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

liquid manure from escaping into the air. But even when thus 
diluted, it is desirable to-convey it to the soil without much loss 
of time, since even in this state there will be a constantly slow 
escape of ammonia, by which its Talue will be daily diminished. 

497. In Flanders, where liquid manure is valued highly, the 
urine of a single cow is valued at from six to eight dollars an- 
nually, and is frequently contracted for at that price. Let every 
farmer, with the help of the facts above stated, make a fair cal- 
culation of what is lost to himself and to the country by the 
hitherto unheeded waste of his cattle ; and he will be able 
clearly to appreciate the importance of taking some steps for 
preserving it in future. — See Johnstcn^s Agricultural Chemistry. 

LIQUID MANURE AMONG EASTERN NATIONS, 

498. When we read about the practices of oriental nations, 
we cannot repress the conviction, that the agriculture of our 
country, so far as saving and applying manure is concerned, is 
very far behind other countries. Indeed, as a nation, our prac- 
tices with manure arc very slack and slovenly. Nearly the 
whole cultivation of China, where there is about 360,000,000 of 
inhabitants, is done by the application of sewage manure, which is 
applied in a liquid state. Whatever may be the latitude — and 
there is an immense range — whether the weather be cold or hot, 
the manure is always applied to plants in a liquid state. 

499. The Chinese say, that you do not require to manure or 
fatten the soil ; but, you want to feed the plant. Therefore 
they do not manure the soil previous to sowing seed ; but they 
manure the growing plant. By the liberal application of fertil- 
izing material to growing plants, while in a liquid state, the in- 
exhaustible fertility of China is maintained at its present pitch. 
The Chinese save what we Americans waste ; and thus keep 
their agriculture in a progressive state. 

500. The custom of the Chinese is to collect all the urinary 
and excrementitious matter from their dwellings, daily, for man- 
urial purposes. And the way in which they apply this sewage 
to the soil is, they take a small quantity, and put it into a bucket 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 253 

of water, and dissolve the solid portions of it by soaking and 
stirring it. Then, this dilated liquid is sprinkled around the roots 
of plants. The most proper time for this purpose is just as the 
Run is setting, or previous to a shower. — {See Transactions of the 
JSr. Y. State Ag. Society, 1862.) 

501. In some localities in the Old World, we have seen it 
stated that all the solid manure is leached at the barn yard, 
and then carried in jjipes, underground, all over the farm ; and 
a hand hose can bo attached to the pipes, at convenient points, 
so that the entire field can bo sprinkled copiously with liquid 
manure. These facts are simply adverted to for the purpose of 
impressing the young farmer with the importance of saving and 
applying all the liquid, as well as the solid, fertilizers of the 
farm. 

SALT AS A MANURE. 

502. There are many good farmers of our country who have 
long advocated the use of salt as a most excellent manure. But 
we have never been able to obtain any reliable information on 
this subject that would warrant its use. Those who have advo- 
cated its use, say : " we think, we believe, and we knoio that salt 
is a good manure." Still, they have never satisfied themselves 
that it is so by any well-conducted experiments. Salt has been 
recommended to be sown with winter wheat in autumn. But 
those who have usod it can give nothing tangible by which the 
young farmer could determine whether the salt w^as the rueans 
of increasing or of diminishing the crop. 

503. It has been asserted, that when a few hundred pounds 
of salt are sown on an acre of wheat, it would make the straw 
stiffer and brighter ; and consequently the crop of grain would 
be better ihan if no salt had been sown on it. But when we 
come to call for positive knowledge on this point, we find nothing 
but shrewd guessing as to the effects of the salt. Therefore, 
until we can have some reliable facts on this point, our advice 
would be to young farmers, not to spend much money for salt to 
ap})ly as a manure. 

U* 



254 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

504. This subject has elicited a vast amount of thought and 
investigation in Europe. A commission, on the part of the 
French Government, have recently reported, that '' salt, as a 
manure, was of no value." Mr. Lawes, in a paper read before 
the Royal Agricultural Society, detailed some very interesting 
experiments with salt, which showed that salt was of no value at 
all on his land, ''either in increasing the amount of straw or 
Ip-ain." And ho did not hesitate to assert, '* that the large 
amount of money which is expended annually on salt, as a 
manure, throughout the British Isles, is not returned in the pro- 
duce." 

605. There are certain kinds of soils, there is no doubt, where 
an application of three or four bushels of salt per acre will 
benefit a crop of grain or grass more than enough to pay for 
the salt and the labor expended in sowing it. Some farmers 
have fancied that it has been very effectual in killing grubs, when 
applied at the rate of three or four bushels per acre. Mr. John 
Johnston, one of the greatest wheat growers in the country, in- 
sists that salt is an excellent dressing for winter wheat. Many 
others have failed to see any good results from it, or from its ap- 
plication. 

ABOUT STERCORARIE8. 

506. There has been not a Utile written and pubhshed con- 
cerning manure vaults, and liquid manure cisterns, and cellars for 
manure, all of which have conveyed a very plausible notion about 
saving manure ; and I know of some farmers who have been to 
great expense in fitting up spacious cisterns — some, forty feet 
long, nnd twenty feet or so in width, with the walls inside cov- 
ered with a heavy coat of cement, for the purpose of holding 
stable manure. 

507. But in a country where manual labor is so very expen- 
sive as it is with us, we cannot afford to pay a man for fussing, 
leisurely, with barnyard manure. And, moreover, when manure 
is deposited in such spacious vaults, it will require much hard 



THK YOCXG farmer's MANUAL. 255 

labor to get it ont of such places on to a wagon. It is infinitely 
easier to write out directions about forking over a pile of barn- 
yard manure, where there is from one to two hundred loads, than 
it is to do it, or to get it done ; and it is a very easy "task to tell 
all about saving the liquid manure in large tanks ; and it re- 
quires but little muscle to talk or writ3 about having all the 
manure from the horse stables and the cattle stalls tumbled into 
a huge cellar, with a layer of muck and a sprinkling of gypsum. 
It is very pleasing to think that none of the valuable fertilizers 
will be washed away from the manure when it is thus disposed of. 

608. But here is a consideration that most writers have 
overlooked, which is, the hard labor required to load the manure 
from such places and get it into the soil without wasting but 
little of it. Talk about forking over a hundred loads of compost 
or barnyard manure, where it is two or three feet in depth ! We 
can talk and write about it : but who will do it ? li will be a 
heavy and laborious task ; and with the present prices for labor, 
we must devise the easiest possible method of handling and man- 
aging barnyard manure or we shall increase the cost of the 
manure more than the profit which will be derived from it. With 
these ideas about stercoraries, let us pen a few thoughts con- 
cerning 

THE WAY TO MAKE A BAEN-YARD. 

609. The most important consideration concerning a bara- 
yard U'here manure is to be made, is to have the building: 
standing on a slope of land. If it were practicable, there should 
be hill enough to admit of the stables being constructed in the 
basement, with a sub-base beneath the stables for the manure. 
This sub-base should be on a level with the yard, in order to 
facilitate loading the manure when it is to be hauled to the field. 
By hav/jg trap-doors in the stable floor through which the 
manure can be thrown down and spread around under the stalls, 
all the liquid will find its way among the solid manure and be 
absorbed , and will not be lost by leaching nor evaporation. 

610. We know of no better way of arranging stables and a 
manure yard than this. If muck, or peat, or humus be used 



256 

among the mannre, so ranch the better ; a3 it can bo thrown 
down into the stable ; and then, with a httle labor, it can bo 
tb.rown down into the sub-base cf the barn. A row of sheds 
ouglit also to be erected on three sides of the rard, for tlic pur- 
pose cf collecting and carrying off the rain. And the ground 
ought to be excavated a foot or two in the centre, for the pur- 
pose of collecting the wash of the yard. Of course, every roof 
should have a good eavc-trough ; and the water which u col- 
lected in them ought to be conducted into a spacious cistern, or 
into a good underdrain, wJLch ought to be made entirely around 
the yard, of sufficient depth to keep the ground dry. 

511. If a farmer will construct his barn-yard according to 
this plan, he will be sure to save all his manure — both liquid and 
solid ; and at the same time his manure will be very accessible 
at any season of the year. If it were desirable to let it remain 
in the yard until autumn, it could be kept there without any ap- 
preciable loss. And although it were under sheds, so that no 
rain could fall on it, there would bo little or no danger that it 
would fire-fang, if the liquid manure of the animals were deposited 
with the solid portions. 

ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE A BARN- YARD. 

512. Many times a barn, or stables, must be built on level 
gi'ound, as there is no natural hill to make a convenient place 
for building with stables in the basement. Under such ch'cum- 
stanccs, there could bo a basement built for the stables, with the 
floor laid close to the ground ; and the yard and sheds around it 
should be constructed as recommended in paragraph 509. 

513. Perhaps it will bo interesting and instructive to the 
young farmer to read a deseriplioa of the yard and stables which 
the writer once constructed, and which gave good satisfaction. 
The ground was nearly level. From the front side of the barn 
to the farther side of the manure yard, perhaps tlicro was a 
des:cent of two feet. The stables were in the basement of the 
barn. The floor was laid close to the ground, which was a very 
compact gravelly clay subsoil. Before the floor was laid, the 



THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 25t 

ground was graded, so that all tbo liquid would descend to a 
large hole, where there was a manure pump at one side of 
the stable, for the purpose of pnmpiug up the liquid manure. 
This earth was about on a level with the" manure yard, v>'hich 
had sheds on three sides of it. The manure was taken from the 
stalls on a wheelbarrow, and spread, every day, under these 
sheds — the cattle manure and the horse manure being mingled 
together. 

514. The roofs were furnished with eaves-troughs, which con- 
ducted the water into tile-drains, which had been made entirely 
around the yard, two-and-a-half feet in depth. These kept the 
soil very dry ; and none of the soluble portions of the manure 
were washed away by heavy rains. The stalls were frequently 
washed with a pailful or two cf water each, which carried all the 
valuable portions of manure to the hob, where the pump would 
bring it up, when it was conducted in light troughs to any part 
of the yavd, where it would bo absorbed by the solid manure. In 
this way, the most valuable portions cf tlie manure were mingled 
with the solid portions ; and being kept damp beneath the sheds, 
it never became fire-fanged. Here it would remain all summer, 
without any loss. And it was very accessible at any time when 
it was desirable to haul a little or much of it to the field. 

515. Cy having the hard earth graded smoothly, and by 
dashing water over the stable floor occasionally, all the liquid 
was saved ; and by pumping it up it was disposed of in the most 
economical manner. 

MANAGEMLNT OF MANURE. 

516. There are not a few considerations of great importance 
in making, saving and applying manure to crops. But the great 
idea is — where the price of labor is so high as it is with ug — to 
save all the soluble, as well as the insoluble, portions of the 
manure, and apply them to the soil, without losing any of it by 
evaporation, cither in the yard or after it has been hauled to the 
field, or without allowing any of it to be washed away by heavy 
showers. This is the chief end to be kept in view. There are 



268 THE YOUNG FARMER'3 MANUAL. 

other considerations, wliicli arc of no little importanc?, concern- 
ing the manner of performing the labor, which we shall dwell 
upon at some length, all of which will tend to the same great 
result — saving, making and applying barnyard manure in the 
most judicious and economical manner. 

51 1. After the barn -yard has been constructed as directed, 
(paragraphs 509, 510) if there arc cow stables and horse stables, 
care should be exercised to have the manure from each stable 
spread evenly over the entire surface, under the sheds, for the 
purpose of having all the manure of a uniform quality. Too 
many farmers allow the manure from the horse stables to be all 
thrown in one place ; the manure from the stoblcs of neat cattle 
to remain in another part of the yard ; and in another part of 
the yard it will be nothing but decayed straw. This system of 
managing barn-yard manure is a very injudicious one — which the 
young farmer should guard against — because some portions of a 
field would be very heavily manured, while others would receive 
a very small amount of fertilizing matter. But if all kinds of 
manure are mingled together, the whole mass will be of a uniform 
quality. 

MANAGEMENT OF SWINE MANURE. 

518. The manure of fattening swine is, usually, very rich ia 
fertilizing or grain-producing material. Therefore a little of it 
wiil manure a large surface, if it be managed economically. 
When sv/ine are fed on ungrcund grain, as they often are, they 
extract only a small proportion of the grain. The remainder 
goes off with the droppings — some in a liquid and some in a 
solid condition. The reason, therefore, why swine manure will 
produce more grain per acre than the manure of any other do- 
mestic animal is, almost their entire food is grain ; and conse- 
quently their ordure will be very rich in grain-producing mate- 
rial. No one can fail to perceive and appreciate this fact. 

519. Now, the grand idea is, to distribute this rich manure 
evenly over a large surface of soil. If it be hauled to the field, 
as it usually is, direct from the piggery, it will not be spread 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 259 

economically over the field. Therefore it would be a better way 
to haul it to the barn-yard, and mingle it evenly with the other 
manure, before hauling it to the field. By this means it will be 
cvculy distributed over a large surface of ground, and will pro- 
duce much more grain than if it were applied in its concentrated 
condition, as it usually is found at the piggery. 

520. Swine manure ought always to be protected from the 
infiuence of rain and sunshine ; because it is so rich in ammonia 
that it will pay well to spend a little time in saving it. This may 
be done most economically by having the manure apartment 
outside of the pen covered with a few boards and well supplied 
with muck, mellow soil, sawdust, or some other absorbent. By 
this means the manure, both liquid and solid, will be deposited in 
one place ; and no labor will be required only to shovel the ab- 
sorbents into the pen. And if enough be shoveled in every day 
to keep the apartment dry, a large amount of excellent manure 
may be made by a few swine. The droppings of swine are so 
offensive — so full of ammonia, which is the life of j^lants — and 
tlieir habits are so neat, with respect to their voidings, that it is 
not difjcult to keep all their manure, both solid and liquid, in a 
body by itself, if provision is made for that purpose. 



COMPOSITION OF BARN-YARD MANURE. 

521. There is more diiference in the qualities of barn-yard 
manure than there is between a delicious bow apple and one that 
has been frozen and thawed, which no one would care to eat. 
And this is a subject which a large proportion of American 
farmers at the present day almost lose sight of ; and I am sorry 
to say that this point is very imperfectly understood. 

522. The excellence of bara-yard manure for increasing the 
amount of grain of any kind depends, in a very great degree, on 
the kind of food that the animals subsisted on while the manure 
was being made, and on the proper management of it until it is 
applied to the soil. The proper management of barn-yard 
manure involves its protection from stormy from becoming fire- 



260 TUE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

fangecl, and from evaporation. In discussing this subject, we 
shall treat it as if none of the soluble portions had been or would 
be allowed to go to waste. 

523. Manure raay abound in grass-producing or straw-pro* 
dncing material, but will not increase the crop of any kind of 
cereal grain. And why? Simply because there i:! very little 
material in it that will produce grain. If animals Avere fed on 
hay, straw, and cornstalks, without any grain, they may produce 
a large amount of good manure for increasing the next crop of 
grass, stalks, or straw. But the kernels will be small. 

524. Now, when we feed a bullock twenty pounds of meal of 
Indian corn per day, be-sides ten or fifteen pounds of hay, he will 
extract and secrete only a small proportion of that meal in the 
form of fat and flesh. But, what becomes of it ? Why, it 
passes off in the ordure, and in the urine, which are as full of 
grain-producing materials as manure can well be. Therefore 
the manure of a fattening bullock, when his food is oil meal and 
Indian corn meal, will produce more grain than the manure of 
half a score of bullocks that subsist entirely on coarse fodder, 
without grain or meal. And the fatter a bullock, sheep, horse, 
swine, or any other animal may be, the greater will be the amount 
of fertilizing material in the ordure and urine. 

525. When swine are being fattened on Indian corn, ground 
or unground, their ordure is composed almost entirely of the very 
best grain-producing material. Only a limited portion of a bushel 
of grain will be secreted in forming fat. And this grain-pro- 
ducing material will be better fitted to promote th«^ growth of 
grain, after having passed through the swine, than it would be 
were the pure meal of the grain used as a fertilizer. (See para- 
graph 4GT.) 

52G. This subject may be still further illustrated by alluding 
to the ordure of hens, and other domestic fowls. When a hen 
lays an egg every day, she will, and necessarily must, consume 
more food, for the purpose of extracting the albumen — which 
composes the egg — than will be consumed by several other hens 
that do net lay. Therefore a large quantity of grain, meat, or 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 261 

other food must be consnmecl and digested, almost solely to ex- 
tract the albumen which it contains. The remainder passes off 
in the ordure. And this fact accounts for the excellence of hea 
manure. The droppings of laying fowls are far richer in grain- 
producing material than the droppings of those fowls that do not 
lay. { 

527. From these considerations we are able to understand 
why guano {See Guano) is such an excellent fertilizer in increas- 
ing the amount of grain and vegetables when it is properly ap- 
plied. The birds whose droppings form guano, subsist almost 
wholly on flesh ; and as they usually consume large quantities of 
fish, but little of it is secreted by the birds in the form of fat 
and flesh. 

COMPAKATIVE VALUE OF THE MANURE OF FAT AND POOR, OR WELL- 
FED AND POOBLY-FED TEAMS. 

528. On this subject of the composition of barn-yard manure, 
the North British Agriculturist contains some very sound ideas, 
which we consider worthy of especial perusal, in order to gain a, 
good idea of the estimate whicli other writers have placed on 
this kind of manure. The author says : " Farm-yard manure 
varies considerably in composition, the variations depending upon 
the animals kept ; the manner they are housed ; the amount and 
character of the food consumed by them ; the kind or quantity 
of straw used as litter ; the period of the year the manure is 
made ; and whether it is made and kept under cover or exposed. 
The amount of water in half decomposed manure is seldom less 
than 80 per cent. Some chemists have estimated it as low as 75 
per cent., but this is below the quantity of moisture present in 
ordinary farm-yard manure. The moisture is derived partly from 
the urine of the stock : and, under ordinary conditions, a part is 
due to the rain water absorbed. 

529. ** On many farms the manure is not only exposed to 
the direct rain-fall , but the water which collects on the roofs of 
the buildings is allowed to saturate it. The consequence gener- 
ally is, that a considerable portion of the soluble elements are 



262 THE YOUXG FARMERS MANUAL. 

washed out of tlie manure, Avhich liquid stream is usually allowed 
to escape to the nearest ditch, from a belief that it contains little 
fertilizing matter. Tlie urine of animals generally contains nearly 
as much fertilizing matter as the excrement ; and any liquid from 
the dung heap contains a portion of the urine. Apart from the 
urine present in the liquid, there are also present, in a soluble 
state, a portion of the fertilizing elements which were in the 
excrements, and a portion which were in the straw used as litter. 
When it is considered that the liquid from byres, cattle courts, 
and manure heaps is generally nearly all lost, and that this liquid 
from the heap is not all rain water and melted snow, it should 
be evident that a considerable waste of the fertilizing elements 
in the farm-yard manure arises from the manner in which it is 
produced, collected, and kept previous to its being applied to the 
soil. Under ordinary circumstances, as to cultivation and cli- 
mate, it is not requisite to form a tank to collect the liquid ; but 
it is generally advisable to prevent the saturation of the manure 
in a court by placing troughs along the eaves of the roofs. With 
such a provision to carry off the rain water, any direct fail of 
rain seldom washes out any fertilizing elements, the water being 
absorbed, and part of it afterwards being removed by evapora- 
tion. During certain periods of the year the amount of moisture 
removed by evaporation is very considerable. It has been fre- 
quently observed, where cattle were kept in open courts with 
sheds attached, that in spring the quantity of straw required to 
keep them comfortable was less than that required for the same 
number of cattle fed in covered boxes. 

WASTE AND FERMENTATION OF MANURE. 

530. " Waste arises from several causes, the most common 
being a washing out of the soluble constituents from exposure, 
and the loss of the gaseous elements from fermentation, induced 
by placing the manure in heaps previous to applying it to the 
land. During the process of fermentation, a considerable portion 
of the constituents of farm-yard manure are driven off. When 
the manure is compressed by the treading of stock, fermentation 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 263 

proceeds much more slowly than when the manure has been 
thrown loosely together. When the fermentation proceeds 
slowly, moisture is the principal constituent which escapes ; but 
when fermentation is active, with considerable heat, a portion of 
the nitrogenous element escapes generally in the form of am- 
monia. Beyond hastening the action of manure, and destroying 
the vitality of the seeds of some weeds, there is nothing gained 
by fermenting manure in a heap. On the contrary, the organic 
fertihzing constituents are diminished in part, and the mechanical 
action of the manure necessarily impaired. It is advantageous 
to all soils, more particularly to argillaceous ones, to apply 
manures in a green state at certain seasons. The cultivator of 
the potato finds it advantageous to manure the land in autumn 
with farm-yard manure, preparatory to the growing of the crop. 
So also the cultivator of the Swedish turnip, and of the legumes. 
Experiments arc much required to elucidate the action of fresh 
farm-yard manure in and on the soil during the winter. Some 
suppose that the constituents of plant hfe in the soil are rendered 
more accessible to plants by being made soluble by the presence 
of this manure in or spread on the surface of the soil, while others 
believe that by the presence of the slowly-decomposing manure, 
ammonia is attracted from the atmosphere and retained in the 
soil readv to be taken up by the crop. The researches of Pro- 
fessor Thomas Way showed that ordinary soils have the power 
of retaining the constituents of plant life, although these are in a 
soluble state, until the growing plants assimilate these constitu- 
ents during their growth. 

531. " Those who are familiar with the beneficial effects 
"which arise from the spreading of farm-yard manure on the sur- 
face, and allowing it to be exposed to the atmosphere for some 
months, know that the fertilizing action of the manure is more 
marked in the succeeding crop than if it had been applied during 
"winter or spring after being fermented. The action may be 
partly mechanical ; but it is now ascertained by the researches of 
chemists, that during the period of exposure the nitrogenous 
elements are increased in amount, being generally in the form of 



264 

nitrates ; the increase being regulated in part by the temperature 
of the atmospliere, the constituents of the nuxuui-e, and perhaps 
also by the constituents of the soil." 

TOr-DRESSING WITH UNTERMENTED MANURE. 

532. By spreading fresh manure on i)astures and meadows, 
and after exposure for some months, collecting by horse rakes 
the manure not decomposed, a striking difference in the character 
of the herbage is the result. Doubtless, this is mainly owing to 
the constituents of the manures which have been washed into the 
soil during the period the manure was exposed. Still, there is 
some mechanical action arising from a covering of manure, for 
upon inspection the soil is found to be more open, and the roots 
of the plants more vigorous. The same mechanical action can 
be observed in stubble lands, particularly Vviiere the soil is argil- 
laceous. The soil is not only more friable, and therefore more 
porous, but the color is partly changed, showing that the action 
of the atmosphere has been increased by the manurial covering. 

533. Those who entertain opinions strongly in favor of fer- 
menting manure in dunghills, previous to its being applied to the 
land, should undertake experiments by manuring portions of 
fields intended for green crops during the next two mouths— the 
same quantities of manure applied to the portions of the fields 
being placed in heaps for spring application to the same extent 
of land manured in autumn. The results will probably surprise 
the cultivator who has hitherto only applied fermented manure 
to the soil. Daring the spring months it is generally found to 
be advantageous to apply manure in a state of advanced decom- 
position, particularly where it is being applied to land intended 
to be immediately sown with the seed of the turnip ; but during 
summer, autumn, and winter, it will generally be found profitable 
to apply manure direct from the cattle courts and dunghill, with- 
out any previous turning to induce fermentation. 

rilOFIT OF SHELTERING MANURE. 

534. The American Agriculturist, previous to ray editorial con- 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 265 

nection with it, contains a short article on this point, which I 
consider worthy of being read by every farmer, because they all 
need Hne upon line about sheltering manure : "It is now pretty 
well settled by the experiments of intelligent agriculturists, that 
manure protected from the weather is much better than that 
which has lain for six months or more in the open yard. Every 
farmer who has cleaned out his stable floor where there was no 
cellar, or has used the manure made on the floor of the sheep 
barn or shed, has had occasion to suspect as much. Crops ferti- 
lized with such protected manure started with great vigor, show- 
ing a dark green color, and pushed on rapidly to maturity. There 
must be something in such manure that the unsheltered article 
loses. 

535. " An English experiment shows that manure which was 
kept covered by nine inches of earth, produced several bushels 
more of grain per acre than the same amount of manure applied 
to the same extent of land, which had lain exposed to the weather 
during the winter. Another experiment shows a difference of 
about four tons, or nearly one hundred bushels, between the pro- 
duce of two acres of potatoes, the one of which had 20 loads of 
covered, and the other 20 loads of uncovered manure. A gain 
of fifty bushels of potatoes to the acre, just from the difierence 
in the quality of the manure, is worth looking after. It will 
be seen that this is nearly all clear profit. There is no 
more expense for seed, for. handling manure, or for tillage. 
The only additional item would be the increased labor of harvest- 
ing. The conviction that the housing of manure is good economy 
is pretty general, and yet not a fourth part of our farmers pay 
any attention to it. The open yard, without a barn cellar, and 
even without sheds, is still a very common spectacle. 

53G. *' The best substitute for lack of cellar is a covering of 
earth or muck for the manure as fast as it is collected. If the 
open yard were kept well supplied with muck, and the manure 
were to be plowed under every month, but without draining oif, 
it would not waste much. Where straw is plenty, as in the 
wheat growing districts, it makes a very good covering for manure. 
12 



2G6 TnE YOUNG FARlfEIl's MANUAL. 

This is the practice of some of the best managers. But it requires 
a much larger quantity of straw than most of our farmers have 
for litter. The straw is thrown out frequently, and the yard is 
kept nearly dry for the cattle to lie on. Muck usually costs 
nothing, except for digging and hauling ; and rightly managed it 
makes a good protection for manure. It should be scattered 
frequently over the yards and under the sheds, and the heaps 
kept well covered. 

I 53t. ''A Canadian farmer complains that he has followed our 
advice, and his manure dried up, heated, and was nearly spoiled — in 
other words it " fire-fanged.'^ This reminds us to repeat, that while 
no liquids should be allowed to run from the manure heap, it 
should always he Icej^t moist. The heap should be frequently ex- 
amined, and if found drying out, water should be added. The 
lest plan is to pile the manure in a tight vault or excavation that 
will hold the liquids. If not under a roof, a cover of loose boards 
will answer, as a little rain falHng through will do no hanu. 
Tlien, as often as needed, pump up or dip up with a bucket the 
liquid from belovr and spread it over the heap. This liquid ma- 
nure will hasten the decomposition of the straw and other coarse 
materials, and all the heap will be equally rich.'^ 

PROTECTING MANURE IX W^INTER. 

538. In view of the fact that there is such an abundance of 
grain-producing material in the manure of those animals that 
subsist on grain or meal, we perceive at once the great impor- 
tance of keeping such manure where rain will not wash it from 
the straw and carry it off to the ocean. Protecting mianurc, by 
erecting cheap sheds over it, is an item of labor that farmers can 
work at in the winter very advantageously and profitably. And 
while they do this work, they are taking a very important step 
towards introducing a renovating system of farm management, 
and of improving the fertility of their soil, not only for grain, 
but for grass or vegetables. Where the water from the caves of 
the buildings is permitted to fall on the manure yard, cave troughs 
should be put up as soon as may be practicable, as a few heavy 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 26T 

showers will often injure the value of manure enough to pay 
I/he expense of good eave troughs to a barn. The skilful farm- 
er's motto must be, in the winter, to save all the manure, and 
raise large crops next season. 

539. Farmers should remember that when they feed grain to 
aiiimals that are being fattened, those animals appropriate but 
small proportions of the grain or meal which they consume, to 
the purpose of building up their frames and secreting fat. What, 
then, becomes of it ? "Why, it passes off in the manure. And 
this is the grand reason why the manure of fattening animals is 
so much more valuable for crops than the manure of store ani- 
mals. In a bushel of Indian corn, for instance, there are fifty- 
eight pounds of grain, which will make, according to the circum- 
stances and conrlition of animals, from three to twelve pounds of 
flesh and fat. Now what becomes of the remainder of the 58 
pounds ? A portion of it is consumed — burnt up as fire burns 
wood — in sustaining the necessary warmth of the animal. But 
the greater proportion is cast out in the droppings. This rule holds 
good in fattening neat cattle, sheep, swin3, and all other domes- 
tic animals. And herein, to a great extent, lies the real profit 
of feeding animals on grain . The profit is in the manure. If that 
is lost or wasted, the profit is very small, or there is no profit at 
all. — Country Gentleman. 

RED CLOVER AS A FERTILIZER. 

540. Red clover ( Trifolium Pratense,) on certain kinds of 
soil, is one of the most convenient, economical and eO'ectual fer- 
tilizers that can be employed for improving the fertility of an 
impoverished soil. And its excellence and importance as a fer- 
tilizer is not half appreciated, except by a few of our best farm- 
ers. Most farmers who have succeeded in raising a good crop 
of clover, are quite too apt to think that they had better make 
hay of it, after all ; or that it will be as well to pasture it off 
and raise a crop of seed as to plow it under. But the great 
difficulty always is, in such instances, every thing continues to 



268 THE YOUNG farmer's maxual. 

be carried off the soil ; and nothing is left nor returned to it 
for the purpose of keeping up its fertility. 

541. Red clover, and lime, and gypsum, in connection with 
nil the barn yard manure a farmer can make conveniently, will 
constitute the most economical fertilizers, for most kinds of soils, 
that a farmer can use. Red clover, with a light sprinkling of 
gypsum, on some kinds of soil, and lime on others, will grow 
luxuriantly where many other kinds of grass would never flourish 
at all ; and on many barren hills and slopes, where the soil has 
always been very poor and the herbage small, thin, and of a 
sickly appearance, red clover, with good cultivation, if plowed 
under as a fertilizer, will eflfect a change in the character and 
productiveness of the soil which could not be produced as cheap- 
ly and expeditiously by the use of any other fertilizer. 

642. The excellence of red clover as a fertilizer consists in 
its peculiar character and habit. It throws long tap roots down- 
ward into the subsoil, which, of course, absorb fertilizing ma- 
terial which has long rested too far below the surface to aid 
vegetation ; and it brings it up for the purpose of forming the 
stems and leaves. Of course these tap roots will render the soil 
more porous than it was before. Then, when the roots decay, 
they furnish a large amount of vegetable matter, which will be 
readily taken up by the roots of other plants growing where 
these large tap roots have decayed. 

543. Red clover reminds us, in its operations on the soil, of 
the good effects of earth worms in working over and reducing it 
to a very fine condition. AVe have no other plant which will 
exert such an ameliorating effect on soil as red clover. The 
roots often extend far below the line where the plow has turned 
up the earth ; and thus they operate in a measure like a sub- 
soil plow, by loosening the subsoil without throw^ing it to the 
surface. 

544. Then here is another important consideration concern- 
ing red clover as a fertilizer. Its large leaves absorb a large 
quantity of ammonia — which is the very life of all the cereals — 
from the atmosphere. By this means, a greater number of tons 



TRE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 269 

of the best fertilizing material is obtained, whicli will greatly 
improve the fertility of the soil, providing it be plowed under at 
the proper time. 

545. R. L. Allen, in the Ain. Farm Book, says on this sub- 
ject : " The roots of red clover exert a power on the soil beyond 
any other known agents, either of manure or of art. Their 
minute fibres are brought in contact with the elements of the 
soil, and they act upon them with a force peculiar to themselves. 

546. " Red clover, and most other plants with broad leaves, 
draw largely for their sustenance from the air, especially when 
aided by gypsum. By its long tap roots, clover also draws much 
from the subsoil. The amount of carbon drawn from the air in 
the state of carbonic acid, under favorable circumstances of soil 
and crop, is usually very great, and when these elements of fertili- 
ty have been buried beneath the surface of the soil, they are 
saved, and thus yield their fertility to the land ; while such vege- 
tation as decays on the surface will lose much of its value by 
evaporation and drainage. Red clover, when plowed under in 
its green state, will ferment very soon. Therefore by resolving 
the matter of plants into their elements, the soil will be well 
fitted for a succeeding crop of almost any grass or grain.'' (See 
Red Clover in the Chapter on Grasses, hereafter.) 

lion. Geo. Geddes, in his Report of the Agriculture of 
Onondaga Co., !N". Y., says, in relation to clover ns a fertilizer in 
that county : ** The Agriculture of Onondaga Co. is based on 
the red clover plant, ( Trifolium Fralense.) It is used for pasture, 
for hay and for manure. Strike th s plant out of existence, and a 
revolution would follow that would make it necessary for us to 
learn everything anew in regard to cultivating our lands. What 
the value of our soils would be without red clover we will not 
attempt to conjecture. We have this most valuable treasure, 
and we appreciate it. The large kind is cultivated with us but 
little, and is considered of less value than any of the small 
kinds, both for hay and for pasture. But where it is wanted 
for manure only, it is sometimes preferred, on account of its heavy 
growth. The roots run deep into the soil, so that a single per- 



270 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

feet plowing will bring it into the most satisfactory condition. 
Some of our best farmers plow their fields deep once in a few 
years ; and then shallower plowing of this clover sod will show 
the long tap roots that have been pulled up from the sub-soil 
by the plow, which will project above the surface all over the 
field, looking quite like dead w^eeds. These roots have trans- 
ferred the fertilizing matters of the lower soil to the snrf.ce. 
When our fields need improving, we turn the clover crop under ; 
and repeat the operation until tliere is sufficient fertility to al- 
low us to carry the clover off the field. The oftener we can 
fill the soil with roots and plow the tops under, the sooner we 
expect to get our land in a condition to crop with grain. A 
very considerable part of the cultivated 1 md of this county has 
never had any other manuring than this clover and gypsum. 
And yet its fertility is not diminishing. Fields tliat are distant 
from the barn are rarely treated to anything but clover and 
gypsum. These fields are not cropped with grain as often as 
those that have the benefit of barn yard manure are. But they 
are manured at a much less expense. We sell our liei'd's gi'ass, 
{Phleum Pratense,) and feed onr clover. The reasons for this 
are, the city buyers will pay more per ton for herd's grass than 
for clover. And we long ago come to think the clover worth 
quite as much as the herd's grass to feed. This system of manur- 
ing with clover and gypsum has been carried on more than sixty 
years, apparently without any iiijurious effects on the soil, from 
which wheat, Indian corn, barley, oats, hay and pasture had 
been constantly removed during that period of time." 

THE MOST PROrER TIME TO PLOW CLOVER UNDEI^. 

547. Some farmers contend that the best time to turn under 
a crop of red clover is when it is in full bloom. Tiie reason 
assigned for this period is, a larger amount of fertilizing material 
in the stems and leaves at that stage in the growth of the clo- 
ver than at any other period. But there have been objections 
urged on this point. And one is, that although there may bo 
a greater amount of fertilizing material in the stems at that 



THE YOUXG farmer's MAXUAL. 271 

jicriod, still there is sucli a large proportion of saccharine matter 
in tlie stems at that stage of its growth, that its decomposition 
has a tendency to increase the acidity of the soil or make it sour, 
which is very unfavorable to the luxuriant growth of any kind 
of cereal grain. 

548. On the other hand, it is contended that it will be best 
to allow the clover to arrive at as complete maturity as possible, 
without losing any of its substance, before it is plowed under. 
And we feel assured that all good farmers who will investigate 
this subject thoughtfully and scientifically, will coincide with this 
theory. The reasons for it arc both cogent a^id philosophical. 

549. When red clover is allowed to stand until the seed is 
formed and the blossoms begin to change in color, there is then 
as much substance — and perhaps more — in the stems than there 
is at any other period in the growth of the plant. And reason 
teaches us that there has been a large amount of the very best 
fertilizing matter drawn from the soil to form the seed, which, 
when it has been turned under the soil and decayed, will be bet- 
ter for promoting the luxuriant growth of grain or grass tlian 
the best manure that can be applied to the soil. And by allow- 
ing the clover to stand until it has matured to that degree, the 
saccharine matter will have underGrone so much chan^:?, that 
there will be no danger arising from its rendering the soil sour. 
And it has always been a question w'.th myself, whether this 
acidity or sourness, to which writers allude so frequently, is not 
more imaginary than real. It will require a far greater amount 
of green vegetable matter to produce any perceptible acidity in 
the soil than we are accustomed to suppose. And, furthermore, 
it does not look very reasonable that an amount of vegetable 
matter so small as would be turned under the soil, in one crop 
of red clover, could possibly, during its gradual decomposition, 
cause any perceptible acidity, unless the soil were already very 
sour. Let farmers raise red clover as large as it can grow ; and 
turn it under the soil. And if it be done at the period just 
mentioned, they need have no fears concerning injurious acidity 
arising from the decaying clover. (Read Par. G19.) 



272 THE YOUNG FARilER's MANUAL. 



VALUE OF WOOD ASHES. 



550. DIlFcrcnt kinds of wood, when burned, will ^n'oduce 
ashes of quite different value, not only for promoting the growth 
and fructification of crops, but for culinary purposes. And if 
farmers only knew their value as a fertilizer, there would be no 
ashes wasted, neither would there be any for sale, exL^ept by those 
people who have no soils to improve or crops to raise. 

551. A distinguished writer on agricultural chemistry, in a 
communication to the CuUivator, says : " Several salts are neces- 
sary for a full growth and maturity of a wheat crop. I:i usiug 
the superphosphate of lime, the farmer uses but one of the salts 
necessary for the perfection of the wheat crop. But in the use 
of ashes, the farmer applies to his land, besides several salts of 
potash, more or less of several otlier salts, no less valuable, ac- 
cording to the kind of timber from which the ashes were pro- 
duced. Ashes from beech contain nearly twenty per cent, of 
the salts of phosplioric acid. According to the analysis of Do 
Saussure, one hundred pounds of ashes would bo sufficient for 
the production of 3,820 pounds of straw. Bat besides the other 
salts of potash, the ashes either furnish, ready prepared or pro- 
duce after being put upon the land, a good supply of the silicate 
of potash — a salt as nccassary as any other salts of potasli, or even 
cs any salt of phosphoric acid. But the ashes, besides furnishing 
several important salts, may perform another office in the ccono- 
my of agriculture no less important. In the preparation of 
compost they may be used as a solvent, to convert into important 
manures many other things useless without being dissolved. And 
this too without destroying any of their efficacy as salts. They 
give compactness to light sandy soils, and render heavy clay soils 
light and friable. They serve, too, to neutralize whatever super- 
abundance of acids there may b^ i:i any soil.'^ 

552. Every observing farmer has noticed how luxuriantly grass 
or grain of any kind usually grows where a brush heap or log 
heap has been burned ; and also how superior the grain usually 
is, both in quality and quantity, which has grown on snch places. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 273 

This consideration establishes, beyond a doubt, tlic fact that un- 
leacbed wood ashes arc excellent fertilizers ; and are of more real 
value to a good farmer, when they are applied to a crop, than when 
they arq sold for the purpose of making potash. 

553. Unleached ashes are far superior to leached ashes ; be- 
cause they furnish a large supply of fertilizing material, w^hich 
makes the straw more stiff than it otherwise v»^ould be. There- 
fore if the straw of cereal grain can be rendered much more 
stiff by sowing a few bushels of wood ashes per acre, of course 
there will be a much greater yield of grain if the straw can be 
liopt erect, than there would be if the straw is so limber that 
it falls down before the grain is harvested. 

554. Ashes, wdiether leached oi unleached, arc very valuable 
for promoting the growth of any kind of grass", when they are 
sowed broadcast over the fields ; and Prof. Liebig recommends 
sowing ashes on meadows, for the purpose of increasing the 
quantity of grass for hay. On some soils, ashes appear to exert 
almost a rnagical influence, in promoting the growth of cereal 
grain, as well as the growth of the grasses. 

EXIIAUSTIXG CHARACTER OF ASHES. 

555. Wood ashes, either leached or fresh, in some places can 
be obtained in large quantities and at reasonable rates, especial- 
ly at the pot and pearl ash factories. Leached ashes contain but 
little potash compared with the unleached ; yet they have in 
their composition all the inorganic or ash constitutents of our 
cultivated crops, and their application to light dry soils general- 
ly exhibits very favorable and marked effects, much improving 
their moisture-retaining qualities, and highly favoring the growth 
of corn, grain, &c. But farmers should always bear in mind 
that the tendency of ashes, lime, plaster, or even guano, when 
applied alone, is to hasten the exhaustion of tillage land — or 
rather, it is the increased "crops," or what is taken off the soil in 
the removed crops, that exhaust it. Therefore their use should al- 
ways be accompanied with farmyard manure, prepared muck, or 
the turning in of green manure, such as clover, buckwheat and 
oats. 



274 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

556. I recently met with an instance in New England where 
a farmer had brought liis land to a high state of productiveness 
by applying large quantities of leached and unlcached ashes. 
But he recently told me that he had discontinued the practice 
of appl}^ng ashes, as they appeared to exert no influence on his 
crops. lie had grown little but hay for market for several years ; 
but it was evident that the ashes would not maintain the fertili- 
ty of his soil without tlie aid of some other manure. 

THE QUANTITY OF ASHES PER ACRE. 

551. There is no definite quantity of either leached or nn- 
leached ashes wliich may bo set dowu as the proper amount to 
be applied on an acre. There is no danger of sowing too much 
of either leached or uuleached ashes. But when they are scat- 
tered on young turnips or on young plants, there is danger of 
applying so much, that the potash in them will destroy every 
leaf that it may como in contact with. 

558. Leached ashes are often liauled from a distnnt potash- 
ery when they are quite wet. If not spread out immediately, 
they should be under cover until they are dry enough to be 
sowed. Some farmers haul them when they are quite wet, and 
spread them with shovels. But more time will be required to 
spread them uniformly in this way than it would require to dry 
them first ; and, more than this, their effect will not be as good 
on the crop when they arc spread wet as it would be if they 
were sowed, unless great care were exercised to spread them very 
evenly. 

THE WAY TO SAVE WOOD ASHES. 

559. There is great danger from fire breaking out from ashes, 
wherever they come in contact with wood of any kind. Some- 
times a whole pile, barrel, or bin of ashes will burn over the sec- 
ond time, if they have not already been burned twice while they 
were in the stove. For this reason, when a lot of ashes contain- 
ing live coals are deposited among cold ashes, combustion of the 
ashes often takes place, and the fire reaches the wood. 



THE YOUNG FAUMER's MANUAL. 275 

560. Asbcs should never be deposited in wooden pails, boxes 
or barrels until more than a week after they have been remov- 
ed from the fire-place. Many people deposit them in okl sugar 
hogsheads, barrels, or wooden boxes, or make a bin by the side 
of the fence for them. But thousands of people have lost then- 
dwellings by such an unwise practice. Where one has spare 
room in a dry cellar, there is no better place than that for keep- 
ing wood ashes, by pouring them in a conical heap on the flag- 
ging, or in one corner, or against the wall. A bin with brick or 
stone sides, in a stone or brick smoke house, is also a good place, 
but rather expensive. Some people are accustomed to make a 
conical heap of wood ashes on the ground in a back yard ; and 
to erect a shelter of loose boards over them, to carry off the rain. 
But unless the surface be sprinkled with water occasionally, 
high winds will blow many of them away. It matters not how 
or where wood ashes are kept, if they arc not allowed to leach, 
blow away, or to communicate fire to buildings. 

THEORY OF THE ACTION OF ASHES. 

561. Sprengel, a writer on agricultm'al chemistry, remarks, 
that *' The action of all ashes is two-fold, partly due to the 
soluble, and partly to the insoluble. The chloride of sodium, or 
common salt, the carbonate and sulphate of potash are soluble, 
and produce immediate effect on tha crop ; but the phosphates 
and the silicates, as well as carbonate of lime, require time to 
dissolve and benefit the crop. (See Liquid Manure, par. 480.) 
Ilence, it has been observed, that some lands arc permanently 
improved by ashes, and some crops are immodiatoly benefitted by 
them. 

562. It is to the silicates, as well as to the large quantity of 
lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid which it contains, that com- 
mon wood ashes owe the more permanent effects upon the soil, 
wiiich it is known to have produced. The two-fold action of 
ashes may be more familiarly expressed by saying that the ac- 
tion is nedianical as well as chemical; although the mechanical 
action of ashes on a soil is so infinitely small, that we are scarce- 



276 THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

]y able to perceive any benefit at all arising from its source. AU 
the insoluble portions of any kind of fertilizers, exert a mecliani- 
cul influence on soils. But as soon as those insoluble atoms 
become dissolved by being exposed to the influence of the weath- 
er, they arc ia a proper condition to perform their ofiice in a 
chemical manner when they come in contact with the roots of 
plants. 

VALUE OF LEACHED ASHES- 

5G3. The idea is very prevalent among most farmers, that 
leached ashes are of little or no value as fertilizers. But nothing 
is more erroneous. The leaching process only deprives the ashes 
of the portions whicli are soluble while that process is going on. 
After the ashes have been thrown from the leach, the insoluble 
portions continue to dissolve for a long time after they have 
been leached. Therefore leached ashes very frequently have 
been known to exert almost as good an influence in promoting 
the growth of plants, immediately after having been applied to a 
crop, as if they had never been leached. And the reason for 
this was, the phosphates, silicates, and carbonate of lime contin- 
ued to dissolve after they were thrown away as valueless. 
Farmers should always remember that ashes are valuable as 
fertilizers even after they have been leached for a long period of 
time. The sooner leached ashes can be removed from the leach 
to the soil, the more valuable they will be in promoting the growth 
of any kind of crops. 

FIRE-FANGED MANURE. 

564. There is such a large amount of ammonia, and so little 
water in the manure from horse stables, that it will heat and 
become lire-fanged, in a few days, if it is not kept wet with 
water, or liquid manure. As long as manure is kept wet, it will 
not fire-fang. That manure which has been allowed to remain 
ill a body, until it has become fire-fanged and mouldy, is little 
better than a lot of com cobs. All the fertilizing material has 
escaped from it. Thousands of farmers throw the manure from 
their horse stables in a large heap, instead of spreading it around 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 2*11 

the yard as it should be, wlicre it will be mingled with the ma- 
nure ; and before it is hauled to the field it is almost worthless, 
because it has become fire-fanged. And it is a most surprising 
fact, that thousands of very intelligent men, in other respects, do 
not know that it injures manure to become fire-fanged, I have 
met with many men who said they had always supposed that it 
was good for manure to undergo such a process of fermentation. 
665. The manure of neat cattle is not very liable to fire-fang ; 
but sheep manure, under close sheds, will often become lire- 
fanged, unless it is kept moist by the application of water 
or liquid manure. The true reason why horse stable manure 
heats so soon is, that horses usually consume much more grain 
— generally oats — than any other animals. Therefore there is a 
greater amount of nitrogen or azotized material in it than there 
would be if they consumed nothing but hay. There is also less 
moisture in it than there is in the droppings of other animals, 
which facilitates rapid decomposition, soon resulting in fire-fanged, 
or almost worthless manure. When horses are kept on hay and 
roots, their manure will not heat very much sooner than the 
manure of sheep and neat cattle. 

566. Horse manure from the stables of hotels and large 
liveries will almost always fire-fang before it can be removed 
from the yard. And as it is hauled along the street, the ferti- 
lizing gasses may be seen escaping in the form of steam. The 
manure of such stables is very rich in grain-producing material ; 
because the horses are kept on unground oats, from which they 
seldom extract half the nourishment. But in order to keep the 
fertilizing substances from escaping, such manure should be spread 
thin with cattle manure, or muck or mellow earth should be 
mingled with it to absorb the rich gasses. 

567. Farmers should remember that this pungent odor, which 
is perceived in horse stables, which often makes his eyes fill with 
tears, and which makes him sneeze as if he had taken a pinch of 
snufl^", is ammonia, which is one of the very best fertilizers in the 
world for any kind of plants. And when the manure heap, or 



278 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

the inaimrc cf liis stables imparts this odor, he may thiuk that 
he is losing money faster than he is earning it. 

now TO PREVENT THE ESCAPE OF AMMONIA. 

568. Water or dampness is the best absorbent of ammonia 
that the farmer can avail himself of. So long as manure is kept 
wet, there will be no danger of losing any portion of the fertiliz- 
ing material by its escaping in the form of gas. If water be ap- 
plied to a pile of horse manure that may be sending out a cloud 
of vapor during its decomposition, it will immediately arrest the 
decomposition, and no more of the fertilizing material will escape 
in a gaseous state. But care should be exercised in applying 
water to manure, not to apply more than it will retain by absorp- 
tion. If too much be applied, of course the fertilizing salts, or 
ammonia, will be carried away in the liquid that may llovv^ from 
the heap of solid manure. 

669. The stables of horses arc sometimes sprinkled with gyp- 
sum, for the purpose of retaining the ammonia. But a largo 
quantity of gypsum would be required to absorb as much as 
would be retained by a little water ; because gypsum will not 
absorb but very little until it has been dissolved. And by re- 
ferring to Gypsum, paragraph 580, it will be seen that it requires 
about 040 times its weight of water to dissolve it before it can 
absorb ammonia. Gypsum is no better to absorb the ammonia 
of manure than any other powdered substance until it has first 
been dissolved. 

570. This fact will account for the disappointment that many 
farmers have met with when they have applied gypsum to their 
manure for the purpose of absorbing the volatile ammonia, and 
to retain it until the manure should be deposited where it could 
promote the growth of plants. (See Gypsum as a Disinfectant, 
par. 587.) Water is the best and most convenient absorbent of 
offensive odors, which are highly charged with ammonia, emitted 
from the evacuation of sick people who are unable to leave their 
rooms. By putting two or three quarts of water into the vessel 
that is to receive the evacuation, every unpleasant odor will bo 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 279 

retained in the water. Whereas if the vessel contains no water, 
the room will often be filled with ahuost an intolerable stench. 
So it is with stables. If stables be scraped clean, and then 
drenched with a pail of water, it will cleanse and pnrify them, 
and absorb more ammonia than a liberal sprinkling of gypsum, 
lime or any other disinfectant in the form of powder. 

571. Vegetable mould, peat, muck and Fuch like substances 
are excellent absorbents of ammonia, if there bo a proper amount 
of moisture, not in the dry powder, but with the liquid to be 
absorbed. There may be tons of dry muck in the stable ; but 
it will not absorb the ammonia unless the ammonia be first min- 
gled with some liquid and brought in contact with the muck. 
For this reason, dry muck, or finely pulverized peat, or clay, 
when in the state of a dry powder, will absorb a vast amount of 
ammonia when it is deposited where it will absorb liquid manure. 

672. Every good farmer knows that a thin covering of damp 
— not wet — soil on a pile of any offensive substance will absorb 
all the offensive odors arising from it, and thus fertilize the soil. 
A few inches in depth of damp soil will absorb the stench emit- 
ted from carrion, which would fill the air with miwholesome efflu- 
via for a good distance from it. But dry soil will not absorb 
the volatile substances unless they be first united with a liquid. 
Therefore water, or a liquid which is for the most part water, is 
very essential — indeed it is absolutely necessary — in order to ab- 
sorb and retain the fertilizing volatile ingredients of a stercoi'a- 
ry or stable. 

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM LIFE, CONCERNING AMMONIA. 

573. "Wo read in Deuteronomy, 23:13, what command the 
Creator gave to the Jews for the purpose of keeping the atmos- 
phere jiure, where there was such a vast host of people encamped 
in a body which occupied the entire ground for several miles in 
circumference : "And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon ; 
and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt 
dig therewith ; and shalt turn back and cover (with earth) that 
which cometh from thee." 



280 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

574. In the above instance, we can see and appreciate the 
efficacy cf a thin sprinkling of earth in absorbing nocuous and 
oflfeusive odor — for the most part ammonia — whicli would have 
rendered the whole atmosphere unhealthy had this precaution 
not been observed. Another instance which is familiar to almost 
everybody is, the manner in which cats dispose of their ordure, 
by excavating a small hole in the ground and covering it with 
earth, which effectually absorbs the ammonia, which always renders 
the droppings of such animals so exceedingly offensive to our nasal 
organs. Another instance, which is familiar to most farmers, is 
that of sprinkling the foulest and most offensive slop holes, near 
the back door of some dwellings, with a thin stratum of mellow 
earth, which will absorb all the offensive efluvia. 

THE VALUE OF SOFT SOAP. 

575. How much fertilizing matter may we suppose there is in 
a barrel of soft soap ? It is true that the quality of soft soap 
may differ in chemical constituents quite as much as two differ- 
ent kinds of soil may differ in fertilizing matter. But in a bar- 
rel of good soft soap, which has been made with potash and 
good grease, there is enough soluble fertilizing matter to produce 
at least half a ton of good hay, or several bushels of good grain, 
were it properly applied to the soil. 

576. We would think it a very wasteful practice to throw 
away all the soap that may be used in the family of a farmer 
during one season. Still, how many there are who have prac- 
ticed this very thing for many years in succession ! -How many 
have been to the expense of making costly drains lo carry off to 
some stream their soft soap, for which their crops have suffered, 
more or less, every season. 

577. After a barrel of soap has been through the wash tub, 
it is more valuable as a fertilizer than it would be before it was 
diluted for the purpose of washing clothes. "Were soft soap, or 
hard soap cither, applied to tlic soil, it must necessarily be 
thoroughly dissolved with rain water before it could promote 
the growth of plants. Therefore after it has been dissolved in 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 281 

the wash tub, it is in the very best condition to be applied to 
the soil for the purpose of promoting the growth of grass or of 
cereal grain. The value of soap will depend on the amount of 
potash and grease of which it has been made. Bath of these 
will be found to be very valuable fertih'zers, whether they arc 
applied to grape vines, fruit trees, to grass, grain, or vegetables 
in the kitchen garden. 

HOW TO USE SOFT SOAP AS A FERTILIZER. 

578. There are a number of methods of applying the fertiliz- 
ing matter in soap suds to the soil, cither of which may be adopt- 
ed. The chief idea is, to get the potash and grease, after wash- 
ing with the soap, into the soil, where it will promote the growth 
of plants ; and to do it in the most feasible and economical man- 
ner. Some farmers place a molasses hogshead on a stone boat 
near the kitchen, where all the suds will be conducted into the 
bung hole ; and when it is full, a team is hitched to the stone 
boat, and it is drawn where it is needed ; and two or three 
plugs arc pulled out of the end, and while the team is moving, 
the liquid flows out. 

579. Another way to dispose of it is to carry it away in 
large pails. Another way is to conduct it from the kitchen to a 
heap of muck or compost. Still another good way, which we 
have practiced with our soap suds is, to conduct all the slops to 
a large hogshead set in the ground in the garden, when the fluid 
is applied to the plants broadcast, with a garden engine, or with 
a hydropult, or with a watering pot. When applied to vege- 
tables, it makes them very fair and tender, and will usually pro- 
mote a very large growth. It will have the same effect on grass 
and grain that unleached ashes does — it will increase the quality 
and the quantity of the crop. (See Ashes, par. 550 ) 

GYPSUM— PLASTER — SULPHATE OF LIME. 

580. Gypsum, or as it is more popularly denominated, plaster, 
is found in vast quarries like limestone. It is broken into frag- 
ments weighing a pound or so, with heavy hammers, and then 



282 TUE YOUNG FARMEU'S MANUAL. 

mil tlirough an iron cracker which reduces it to smiiU chunks 
like gravel, after which it is ground into powder with mill stones, 
very much as grain is ground into meal. Sometimes it is ground 
very fine, as it always should bo ; and sometimes it is very 
coarse, which is very objectionable. When it is ground fiuc, it 
v.-ill act imuicdiately on the crop ; whereas if it be coarse, it will 
l^encfit the crop next season far more than the one that may be 
growing v/hen it is sowed. 

581. The young farmer should understand that gypsum, or 
plaster, must be dissolved before it can promote the growth of 
any pljnt. Therefore the finer it is ground the sooner it will 
be dissolved by rain and moisture; and thus bo prepared to aid the 
growth of his crops. As soon as it has been dissolved, the parti- 
cles which are in a liquid state will be carried down by the rain 
to the roots of grain or grass. Now, who does not p rccivc, at 
a glance, the groat importance of having it ground as fine as 
may bo practicable before it is sowed ? 

now GYPSUM OPERATES. 

582. Almost every chemist who has written about the action 
of gypsum has advocated a different mode of action. Therefore 
it is rational to conclude, that but very little is really known about 
the matter ; and what little they profess to know is more guess- 
work tiian anything else. But I believe that the theory of its 
action, which is most approved, is, it absorbs and fixes the vola- 
tile ammonia, which substance enters largely into the formation 
of plants, and which always promotes a very luxuriant growth. 

583. It is a consideration of little importance, however, as 
to the manner of the operation of gypsum. If it produces good 
effects on crops, it is not worth while to trouble our brains too 
much in inquiring how it acts. If we give i)roper attention to 
such considerations and circumstances as will aid its action, as 
well as those which prevent its action, we shall be better prepared 
to use it, as a fertilizer, understandingly, and with good effects 
on crops. 

584. It requires from four to five hundred times its own 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 283 

weight of p:irc rain water to dissolve it before it will bo pre- 
pared to produce any effect on plants. Then, after the powder 
has been dissolved, it must be carried down to the roots by rains, 
before it can exert any influence in promoting the growth of any 
plant. We are not in doubt about this matter — chemistry or no 
chemistry. (See Liquid Manure ; Par. 480.) These considera- 
tions will teach us more of the importance of having gypsum re- 
duced to the very finest powder ; because these little coarse 
grains of gyps-um will require a long time to dissolve. 

THE WAY TO APPLY GYPSUM. 

585. The roots of plants will not come to the surface of the soil 
after the gypsum. It must be carried down to the roots ; or be 
placed where the rootlets could reach it. Therefore when a 
handful of gypsum is thrown down in a heap — as it usually is ap- 
l)lied — near a hill of corn, all the fertilizing material will be found 
within the compass of only a few square inches. And a moment's 
reflection will convince one, that if the handful were s^^read thin 
all around the hill, the roots on every side of the stem 
absorb tlic fertilizing substances when they are carried down by 
rain. If a handful to a hill were spread evenly over a space one 
foot in diameter, before the seed is dropped, the roots would 
come immediately in contact with the plaster ; and it would pro- 
duce more than twice or thrice the good effect that the same 
amount will if it were simply dropped in a heap on the surface 
of the soil. 

586. One good reason why gypsum exerts such a marked in- 
fluence in promoting the growth of young clover is, the seed 
vegetates near the surface of the soil ; and as soon as the roots 
begin to spread, they come directly in contact with this fertiliz- 
ing material, which the gypsum has prepared for the growth of 
young plants. Therefore the young farmer should understand 
that the gypsum must be deposited where the roots can have ac- 
cess to it. Where it is applied to grass or grain that has been 
sown broadcast, the gypsum should bo scattered broadcast also. 
But where the grain is in hills, it wijl be best to sprinkle it around 



284 THE YOUXG FAEMEr's MANUAL. 

tliem, and not sow it broadcast. And it is important to spread 
it thinly over a large surrace ; because if it be deposited in 
heaps, as it sometimes is, only a limited portion of the roots -will 
be benefitted by it. 

GYPSUM AS A DISINFECTANT. 

587. Gypsum has often been recommended as an excellent 
deodorizer or disinfectant. In order that any substance may 
operate as a disinfectant or a deodorize-r it must be in a fluid 
or gaseous state. Deodorizers and disinfectants must either ab- 
sorb or neutralize in some manner those odors that are offensive 
to the smell. Solid substances — like gypsum — cannot absorb 
but a very limited amount of ammonia until it has been dissolved 
with water. 

588. Therefore when gypsum is strewed in stables, for the 
purpose of absorbing the ammonia, it cannot absorb but very 
little of it while it remains in a powdered condition. But if it 
comes in contact with water or other liquid enough to dissolve 
it, then it will be fitted to absorb any offensive odors within its 
reach. 

589. Many years ago chemists directed farmers to strew 
gypsum in their privies, for the purpose of absorbing the am- 
monia, and thus keep the air sweet and pure. Therefore many 
l)eople erected their privies contiguous to their dwelling houses, 
confidently flattering themselves that a little sprinkling of gyp- 
sum would keep their apartments pure and sweet. But they 
soon found that there was but little efficacy in gypsum for such 
a purpose. The reason for it was, the gypsum was not first 
dissolved. 

PLASTER OF PARIS. 

590. The question is frequently asked, what is the difference 
between " Plaster of Paris and Gypsum ?" Chemically spoaldng, 
there is no essential difference between the two kinds. Plaster 
of Paris is usually white: while gyiDsum is of a daik greyish 
color. But their chemical constituents arc the same ; and they 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's ilAXUAL. 285 

would operate exactly alike when applied to the soil. Plaster 
of Paris is au article of commerce which is used in the arts for 
taking casts and for plastering houses. In Paris, France, where 
originally it was extensively used for making mortar, for plaster- 
ing houses, it goes by the name of plaster. Bat mother parts of 
the continent it is called gypsum. And the more common name 
for it in America is f.aster. Nova Scotia plaster is the same 
thing, with the exception of certain impurities in it. 

PROF. S. W. JOHNSTOX ABOUT PLASTER. 

501. " The character of the soil must necessarily greatly afifect 
the operation of gypsum as a fertilizer. A soil that is already 
rich in sulphate of lime, or gyi3sum, of course cannot be greatly 
benefitted by the addition of more. A poor, light cr exhausted 
soil, deficient in mineral plant food, as phosphoric acid, potash, 
&c., cannot be expected to become fertile by the application of 
gypsum ; because this substance cannot supply those matters 
which are v»ranting ; and without which no plant can flourish. 
Cold, wet, heavy and impermeable soils are usually almost un- 
affected by gypsum ; and sometimes its use has been apparently 
disadvantageous on them. But porous soils, either sandy or 
loamy, which readily dry after rains, and which are well dunged, 
experience the most benefit from plastering. Excess of moisture 
and poverty of the soil arc the chief hindrances to the action of 



gypsum." 



DOES PLASTER EXHAUST THE SOLL ? 



592. Bees 'plaster exhaust the soil ? This frequently asked 
question is easily answered by the word no. A soil is never ex- 
hausted by what is added to it. But always by what is removed. 
But a little explanation is needed, for although plaster cannot 
exhaust the soil, plastering usually {^followed by exhaustion, and 
for the simple reason that by its use nothing but sulphate of lime 
is addtd, while phosphoric acid, potash, silica, &c., are removed. 
A purse soon gets empty if eaj,des are constantly Uiken out, 
though cents be now and then put in. Tiie crops which plaster 
enables the farmer to remove from the soil exhiut it. Sup- 



286 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

pose that a few bushels of plaster raise the yield of clover upon 
a field 10 per ct. ; then 10 per ct. more of phosphoric acid, pot- 
ash, &c., pass from the soil into the crop than would have pass- 
ed had no plaster been used. If plaster onljr be added, then 
the field will be exhausted in one-tenth less time than if nothing 
at all had been applied. In both cases the total amount of 
vegetation produced until exhaustion supervenes will be the 
same, and the amount of exhaustion the same. In the one in- 
stance the final result might be reached in 10 years ; in the other 
in 9 years. The difference is merely one of time. If benefit is 
to be derived from the use of plaster, it must be accompanied 
with other manure, or its action, however good at first, will ulti- 
mately cease. Manuring a poor soil with nothing but plaster is 
attempting to sustain vegetation on plaster alone ; and this, like 
feeding children on little else than arrow-root, is a stupendous 
folly. It is trying to build brick houses without brick. Plants 
cannot be made of sulphate of lime any more than men can be 
made out of starch. " Out of nothing, nothing comes." 

IMPORTANCE OF TEXTURE. 

J. J. Thomas, in an excellent article on the " Eff*ective Action 
of Manures," says : 

" Far more important than the mere presence of fertilizing 
ingredients, or even the chemical condition of those ingredients, 
m many cases, is their mechanical texture and degree of pulver- 
ization. We have elsewhere given an instance, furnished by 
one of the most eminent scientific and practical cultivators of 
our country, where the complete crushing of the clods of an 
adhesive soil, and the grinding together with them into powder 
the manure applied to the land, produced an effect upon the 
subsequent crop five times as great as the ordinary operation of 
manure. How absurd it must be to make strict calculations on 
the result of a given quantity of yard manure, without ever 
inquiring into the mode of application — whether, on the one 
hand, by spreading in large, unbroken lumps, carelessly and im- 
perfectly plowed under, and in a condition wholly useless for 



THE TOUNQ fakmeh's manual. 287 

plants, or even detrimental in case of drouth — or, on the other, 
by a thorough harrowing of the soil and manure together, be- 
fore turning under and a repetition of the operation when 
necessary afterward for complete intermixture. We have 
known the most admirable results by this practice, where noth- 
ing but fresh, coarse manure could be obtained for. succulent 
garden crops, and nearly a total fliilure under like circumstances 
without its performance. Even the time of year that manure 
has been carted on the land, has sometimes had an injurious 
bearing on the success of its application, simply by the packing 
and hardening resulting from traveling over its surface when 
in a wet and adhesive condition. It is a perfectly self-evident 
truth, that a mixture of unburned bricks and clods of manure 
would afford immeasurably less sustenance to the fine and deli- 
cate fibers of growing plants, than the same mixture ground 
down together into a fine powder. Hence it may be reasonably 
believed that the general introduction and free use of pulver- 
izers, as the most effective harrows, clod-crushers, and subsoilers, 
assisted by tile-draining, may be of greater benefit to the whole 
country than the importation of a million tons of guano." 

LIME OXIDE OF CALCIUM. 

" The use of lime without manure 
Will always make the farmer poor." 

593. Properly speaking, lime is composed of calcium and oxy- 
gen^ which is denominated the oxide of calcium. Calcium is a 
white shining metal, and the oxygen is a gas which exists in the 
atmosphere and in all solid and liquid substances. Oxide of 
calcium, or lime, is obtained by heating limestone in a kiln for 
several days to a bright red heat, for the purpose of driving off 
the carbonic acid which is in the limestone. Therefore, when 
we speak of lime, the correct idea is, that substance which re- 
mains after limestone has been burned sufficiently to expel the 
carbonic acid. This is called quick-lime, or unslacked lime. 
After water has been applied to unslacked lime, it will evolve a 
great heat, and be reduced to a fine powder. In this state it is 
properly called caustic lime, or hydrate of lime. When lime has 



288 THE YOUNG '/aiimer's manual. 

been exposed to the air, it will absorb moisture, which will slack 
it. L'.nie iu this condition is called partly a hydrate, and partly 
a carbonate of lime. Lime that has been air-slacked for a 
few months will lose much of its fertilizing properties. Therefore 
the sooner it can be applied to the soil and covered with a sprink- 
ling of earth, the more effective it will prove in promoting the 
growth of crops. 

WHAT KIND OP SOILS MAY BE BENEFITTED BY LIME. 

594. Chemists tell us, that soils known to be fertile, and in a 
high state of productiveness, ''may contain no more than one five 
hundredth part of lime ; " or a very critical analysis of such soil 
would detect only a trace of lime ; and that according to this 
computation an acre of soil six inches deep would contain from 
one to two tons of lime. Those soils that are deficient in potash 
may be greatly improved by the application of a good sprinkling 
of lime. When there is a large amount of vegetable matter in 
the soil, lime may be applied with good effect. When the soil is 
of a granitic character, and has been cultivated for many suc- 
cessive years, a sprinkling of lime will exert a beneficial influence 
on its productiveness. 

595. The correct way for ascertaining whether a soil may be 
benefitted by the application of lime is to experiment with a few 
small plots in various parts of the farm. In this way a farmer can 
satisfy himself beyond a doubt, whether lime will render his soil 
any more productive or not. On clayey soils, or those of a peaty 
character, lime will usually have a good cifect. Farmers need 
apprehend no danger of applying too mucli lime to any sod. If 
it will not improve its fertility, it will not injure its productiveness. 

HOW MUCH LIME PER ACRE. 

596. Some writers have recommended to sow from one hun- 
dred to five or six hundred bushels of lime per a^re ; while others, 
under quite different circumstances, have stated that from ten 

-^ sixty bushels will be found the most proper amount for an 
^icrc. My own views on this subject are, t!iat if a soil really 



289 

needs a heavy coat of lime, and it is at hand, Lt it be applied in 
a bountiful manner. But if lime is not plenty, and is quite ex- 
pensive, it will be found better to apply, say six or eight bushels 
per acre every year, than to sow a very large quantity at one 
time. 

591. When large quantities of lime are applied at one time, 
very much of the effect which it is designed to produce will be 
lost on the crop. But if a given quantity be applied to the soil 
for promoting the growth of each crop, the application will be 
much more judicious and the effects on the crops more apparent. 
There can only a small quantity of lime act upon a crop in one 
season ; and if a large quantity be applied, its effects may be 
lost, or it may have no good effect on the soil. The skillful 
farmer must exercise some good judgment of his own on this 
point ; and not be led to adopt an erroneous practice in the ap- 
plication of limo to his soil. 

EFFECTS OF LIME, AND MANNER OF OPERATION. 

598. Chemists tell us that "lime assists in pulverizing the 
soil by acting chemically on the silicates therein, dissolving out a 
portion of the silica and liberating potash and soda." For this 
cause, heavy applications of lime on some granitic soils that 
were not very productive have increased the productiveness to 
a great extent. J. Hvatt says : " The beneficial effects of Hme 
depend very considerably on the assistance which is rendered by 
the carbonic acid of the atmosphere and of the light rains. It 
acts both chemically and mechanically. It acts mechanically, 
by rendering heavy, clayey soils more light, and by diminishing 
their tenacity, thus rendering them more friable and porous. 
When it is applied in large quantities, it will assist the decompo- 
sition of organic matter in the soil. 

599. When there is an undue amount of acidity of any kind 
in a soil, a good sprinkling of lime will rectify it, and thus fur- 
nish a large supply of food for plants. Lime may be applied to 
potatoes with good effect on almost every kind of soil ; and when 
the soil is very tenacious, if it be well drained, the lime will exert a 

13 



290 

very good influence in promoting a healthy growth ; and ^ill 
render the potatoes more heulthy and mealy than they usually 
are when they huve grown on tenacious and heavy soils. 

GOO. When there is such a large proportion of vegetable 
matter in a soil that crops of cereal grain will be all straw, and 
so large that it falls down before the grain has matured, a top, 
dressing of lime will exert a chemical influence on the soil, by 
which the straw will be rendered more inflexible or stifTcr ; and 
at the same time it will act on the grain — forming material in 
the soil, and thus increase the quantity of grain. 

GOl. Lime will also improve the qttallty of cereal gmin by 
furnishing nourishment for the plants that will mako kernels of a 
more clear color, having thinner skin and more and better flour. 
This wdll be found particularly true where the soil is of a kind 
that will produce a great growth of straw, sucli as some kinds of 
swampy table land or river bottoms, which are very deep and 
destitute of sand, gravel and clay. 

602, Lime will have a very good effect almost al\va\ s on 
old pastures ; and the experience of many reliable firraers ou 
this subject is, that lime will improve both the quantity and 
quality of the grasses which grow on them, and thus greatly im- 
prove the prcducts of the dairy, whether for butter or cheese. 
There are but very few soils, in pasture or in grass, that may not 
be improved more or less by sowing on them lime and wood ashes. 
And those fertilizers will usually be found very valuable on our 
western prairies, that have been cultivated for many years in close 
succession, 

GAS LIME. 

Gb03. Large quantities of caustic lime are used at the gas 
works of our cities in making gas, which is really worth more 
for agricultural purposes as a fertilizer, after it has performed its 
office at the gas works, than it was before it was Uwsed in the 
purifier's. But farmers have not learned this fact. Therefore 
vast quantities of it are thrown away and wasted at the works, 
which might be used, with much profit, in promoting the growth 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 291 

of crops, which in most instances would cost only the expense of 
haul'ng. 

604. It is thrown out of the purifiers in a powdered condition, 
usually charged to its highest capacity with ammonia. An 
officer in the Edinburgh Gas Company, Scotland, says : " I 
believe that waste gas lime is equal in efficiency to fresh lime for 
most of the purposes aimed at in its use in farm lands. I sold all 
the lime thus produced at a gas work in Forfarshire for sixteen 
years to several farmers,who uniformly expressed their satisfaction 
therewith. One very usual application of it was its mixture with 
the 'wrack' — viz., the large piles of weeds and tangled roots of 
grass cleared off the fields annually. On being composted in this 
way, the lime gradually killed all the vitality of these weeds, and 
returned them to the land in way of manure. It also served the 
purpose of opening up stiff clay soil, being first spread over the 
surface and then plowed down. But the chief and most beneficial 
use of gas lime is found in its admixture with farm-yard manure 
at the time it is applied to the fields. This is explained by the 
fact that the lime from gas-works, while retaining all its original 
properties as a hydrate of lime, hns acquired, in addition, a large 
amount of sulphur, much of which is free, and when openly ex- 
posed is taken up readily by the oxygen of the atmosphere. 
This sulphur, so readily parting from the lime, enters into com- 
bination with the volatile ammoniacal elements of the fresh manure, 
retaining them in the form of sulphate of ammonia, to be after- 
wards taken up gradually by the crop to which it has thus been 
applied. It is in the first and last mentioned application that gas 
lime has proved most beneficial in those cases coming within my 
own knowledge. It is not equal to newly burned lime shells for 
breaking up stiff clays." 

LIME— THE BASIS OP GOOD HUSBANDRY. 

C05. J. J. TnoMAS writes in the Country Gentleman: *'Lime 
possesses other properties, however, besides that of neutralizing 
acids. One of the most remarkable is the power to absorb 
putrescent manures, and to hold the fertilizing essence till it is 



292 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

wanterl for the crop, through every vicissitude of the season?^, and 
through indefiuite periods of time. There it is locked up ; and 
nothing at common temperatures but the energy of a growing 
plant can unlock it. Lime lias therefore been styled the basis of 
all good husbandry. It stores up the manure that is not im- 
mediately wanted for future use — a kind of save-all, AVlien the 
suppUcs from the barn-yard arc spread and plowed into a soil that 
is nearly destitute of lime, the growing crop catches a part of its 
virtue; but a very large part escapes, and very little will be left 
for the benefit of those that succeed. I had been used to such 
soils until I removed to n^y present farm ; and was then agi'eeably 
surprised to see how much more dm^ble were the effects of stable 
manure. My fields were limed by the dd'ige. Unwholesome 
vapors and villainous smells are also absorbed by lime; and some 
places once remarkable for insalubrity have been changed in 
1 heir character by liming or marling the fields around them. 
Nuisances arc converted into manures. A striking illustration of 
this principle is contained in the following account from the 
Essay on Calcareous Manures. 

606. ''A carcase of a. cow, killed by iictident late in the spring, 
was laid en the ground and covered by about 25 bushels of broken 
shell-, with 45 bushels of earth, chiefly silicious. After the rains 
had settled the heap, it v/as only six inches thick over the highest 
part of the carcase. The process of putrefaction was so slow, that 
several wcek.i passed before- it was over ; nor was it ever so 
violent as to throw off any effluvia that the calcareous earth d'd 
not intercept in its escape, so that no offensive smell was ever per- 
ceived. In October, the whole heap was carried out and applied 
to one-sixth of an acre of wheat ; and the effect produced fiir ex- 
ceeded that of the calcareous manure alone, which was applied at 
the same time on surrounding land. The same valnablo work 
conta'ns a caution to the fanner which may save him from a 
dangerous error. ' lie is not to suppose that calcareous earth 
can enrich a soil by direct means. It destroys the worst foe of 
productiveness, [acidity,] and uses to the greatest advantage the 
fertilizing powers of other manures ; hit of itself it gives no fer- 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 29o 

iility to soils, nor fnrnislies the least food to growing plants.' In 
other words it is the strong box for treasure, but not the treasure 
itself. Lime also possesses the property of making sandy soils 
closer and firmer, and clayey soils lighter. It is a mean between 
these extremes." 

PRECAUTIONS IN USLNG LIME. 

60 1. As lime is of a very caustic nature, and will destroy the 
leaves of plants when it is brought in contact with them ; and as 
it will injure the germs of seed, it is very important that the young 
farmer should understand how to use it in an intelligent manner. 
When lime is applied to growing potatoes, or young Indian corn 
in the hill, or to turnips, or any other plants, it is important 
tliat it should not be deposited on the leaves, or in the sheaths of- 
the plants, as it will soon destroy the leaves, and thus injure them 
more than they will be benefitted by its application. The correct 
way to apply it, is, to sprinkle it thinly, on the soil, about the 
yourg plants. If it be thrown in small heaps near them, it will 
be liable to do more injury than it will do good. 

LIME SHOULD BE KEPT NEAR THE SURFACE. 

COS. Mr. J. IIyatt, in an Essay on Agricultural Uses of Lime, 
has said : " Highly caustic lime [or lime that is just slacked] 
should not be introduced into direct contact with seed in the hill 
or in the drill. Caustic lime should not be applied with yard- 
manure, nor with any manure that contains much nitrogen. Yery 
coarse, unfermented manure is not so liable to be injured by it, 
especially if it be covered with earth or muck which will absorb 
nny liberated gases. Lime should not be used in a wet state ; 
nor should water be applied too fast when it is being slacked, as 
it will make lumps of paste of the slacked portions, which will not 
spread readily when it is sowed. Uuslacked lime should not be 
ap[)lied to the soil, as it will be liable to unite with the soil and 
form hard lumps of mortar. If a soil is not well drained, either 
naturally or artificially, lime will not exert any marked influence 
in promoting the growth of a crop ; and if a dressing of lime 



294 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

were applied to a wet soil of clay, it would do mncli more injury 
than good. Lime is used to purify privies, aul other foul places; 
but as it liberates tlie ammonia, it destroys the excelleuce of 
substances that are d3signGa for manures. For tliis reason lira3 
should never be used in making poudrette." 

609. It should be borne in mind, that lime must not bo buried 
deep in the soil ; therefore it is a wrong practice to plow it under. 
Where a large quantity is app'ijdto the soil at one time, it may 
be well to harrow it in. But, as a general rule, it is best to sow 
it, and let the rain wash it into the soil. R. L. Allen, in the 
American Farm Book, says: "To give lime its fullest effect it 
should be kept as near the surface as possible ; and for this reason 
it is well to spread it after plowing, taking care to harrow it well 
in. Then it should be allowed to reniain in grass as long as may 
be profitable. The weight of lime, and its minuteness, give it a 
tendency to sink into the soil. Therefore, after a few years of 
cultivation, a large portion of it will be found to have got beyond 
the depth of its most cQicient action. When lime is used, tliis 
tendency gives additional value to the system of under draining 
and subsoil plowing, which enables the atmosphere and roots 
of plants to follow the lime, thus prolonging its effects and great- 
ly augmenting the benefit to crops. It should be spread on the 
soil immediately after taking off the last crop, so as to allow the 
longest time for its action before the next crop." 

PPEPARINQ LIME FOR SOWING. 

GIO. When it is to be applied in large quantities, it may be 
dropped in small heaps in the field, and allowed to slack in air, 
rain and dews, when it may be spread with shovels. But when 
only a few bushels are to be applied per acre, it is quite important 
to have it all thoroughly slacked, so that it will not clog t!ie 
machine when it is being sov.^ed, or will not remain in lumps if it 
be sowed by hand. 

611. The best way that I am familiar with for preparing 
lime to be sowed is, to spread it on the cellar bottom, or under 
some shed, or in some building, about one foot deep, 



THE YOUNG FARMER^S MANUAL. 295 

where the wind will not blow it after it is shacked. A cellar is 
the best plac^, as it will be a little damp. There will be no dan- 
ger of its producing fire if it is not more than a foot deep. lu 
this place let it air-slack for several weeks. Once in a few days 
let it be forked over, for the purpose of bringing the large lumps 
to the surface. Sometimes large chunks will need a little s;:)rinl>- 
ling of water to aid the slacking process. IP it has been well 
burned, it will slack well. But when it has been poorly burned, 
and when there is much flint and other impurities in the stone, 
they may be raked out with a fine-toothed iron rake if the lime 
is to be sowed with a machine ; or if it is to be sowed by hand, 
these impurities will do no harm. 

612. Lime should be sowed in a damp, lowry day, when there 
is no wind to blow ii away from the place wiiere it is desirable 
to have it fall. And if it be slacked in a damp place, it will ab- 
sorb moisture enough to prevent its flying at every breath of air; 
and at the same time it will be in a bettor condition to be applied 
to the soil than if it were in a caustic state — ^just slacked. 

LIME AS A MANURE. 

613. J. J. Thomas in the Annual Register of Luther Tucker 
and Son, when alluding to **lime as a mxnure," says : 'As the 
effects of lime last several years, it makes very little difference at 
what season it is applied, provided it is well pulverized, so that it 
may be evenly spread, and not in lumps, which can be of very 
little use. It cannot evaporate — it may sink into the soil, if 
copious and long continued rains occur before it becomes convert- 
ed to a carbonate, which, must be in a few days at furthest. Af- 
ter that, the carbonic acid brought down in rain may dissolve it 
very slowly, and in almost infinitesimal portions. The fact that 
the effect of a dressing of lime is sometimes known to last twenty 
years, shows that it is not easily carried off. If sown on grass, 
nothing further is necessary ; if on plowed land, harrowing may 
SfiTYc to mix it with the soil." 



296 THR YOUNG FARMER'S MANrAL. 

EXAMPLE OF SUCCESS IN LIMING. 

614. Tlie Genesee Farmer gives an account of a farm in Lan- 
caster county, Pennsylvania, wbicli has been one bnndred years un- 
der cultivation, and during the last fifty years has been limed every 
ten years. It was much exhausted when the use of lime was first 
resorted to for its renovation ; but the application of ten bush- 
els per acre developed elements cf fertility before unavailable in 
the growth of crops. After the lapse of ten years, the good effect 
of the lime disappeared, and a new dose of ten bushels per acre 
was again administered. The soil is a gravelly loam, and yields, 
with liming, thirty bushels of wheat per acre. Clover, a plant 
which feeds very largely on lime, is grown in rotation with the 
wheat, and is either turned with the plow or fed to animals who^'^^e 
manure is applied to the land. This is one of the most successful 
examples of liming that has met our notice; and on other soils 
the result might be quite different. 

615. After penning the foregoing paragraphs,! met with a good 
article in the American Agriculturist, written previous to my con- 
nection with that paper, which says : " The precise action or use 
of lime is not as yet a settled question. Theoreiicnl agricultural 
chemists have claimed that, since lime is found in the ashes of 
most crops, it is one of the most essential constituents, and must 
theref"ore be found in the soil, or must be applied, if not already 
there, in order to supply the elements of the plants. A single il- 
lustration is conclusive on that question. The farm on which we 
were brouglit up, though a diluvial or loam soil on the surface, is 
literally filled with limestones, and rests on limestone rocks, which 
often protrude through the surface. The well and spring water 
is so saturated with lime as to yield a thick coat of it upon the 
toa-lcettle in a brief time. Yet burned lime and plaster (sulphate 
of lime,) have always been favorite fertilizers, because their ap- 
plication has proved to be profitable. Many thousands of bushels 
of lime have been burned from stones gathered upon the surface, 
and the burned lime has been applied right among the unburned 
stones with excellent results. The water flowing from the soil 



'THE YOUXCx farmer's MANUAL. 29t 

is abundantly saturated witli lime in a soluUe CGudition, so that 
there can be no possible lack of this element for the use of the 
plants. On this point it may also be added, that in the analysis 
of many samples of water from wells and springs in all kinds and 
qualities of soils, and from various sections of the country, we 
have never yet found a specimen of water that did not contain 
lime enouirh to meet the wants of any crop. 

616. The burning limestone simply drves off its carbonic acid, 
and reduces it to a fine or powdered condition, so that it is easily 
mingled with the soil. Simply grinding limestone would not re- 
move its acid and render it caustic ; this is only accomplished 
by great heat. No rule can be given for judging as to whether 
any particular soil will be benefitted by lime. Experience has 
proved that it is often useful both on clays and on very sandy 
loams where there is but a very limited supply of lime naturally 
in the soil : and that it is equally beneficial on soils half made up 
of limestone, pebbles, shells, and organic petrifications, which are 
composed chiefly of lime. Actual trials are the only sure tests of 
its utility or non-utility upon any ]iarticular soil. Moderate ap- 
plications, at frequent intervals, seem to be preferable to heavy 
coatings at long intervals. A cold, heavy, sour soil may receive 
30, 50, or even 100 bushels per acre at one time ; but on lighter 
soils, 15 to 25 bushels are usually an abundant supply. To apply 
50 or more bushels per acre on a light soil may decompose and 
use up all the organic matters in the first year, and render it 
sterile ; while 15 bushels may prepare enough organic material to 
benefit the first crop ; and the roots and leaves of that crop will 
add more organic matter for a succeeding crop. This may explain 
why lime has after a time been condemned where it was at first 
in great favor. We know one instance where the soil of a neigh- 
borhood was light and sandy. Lime was hauled 30 miles by 
teams, and very moderately applied — 10 to 20 bushels per acre. 
The opening of a railway reduced the cost to 8 cents per bushel, 
and one farmer applied 500 bushels to five acres at once, expect- 
ing great results. The first crop was a good one, but the field 
13* 



298 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

was rained until a heavy coat of manure was applied to restore 
organic matter. 

Git. Large applications of lime on a heavy soil, and not 
thorongbiy diffused throngh it, as when it is spread on the surface 
and plowed under, often settles in a layer and forms a compact 
bed throngh which the roots will not penetrate freely. We have 
seen many such instances, and nothing would grow well until a 
l)low was run below to throw it upon the surface, and then the 
harrow used freely to break up and commingle the hard layer with 
the rest of the soil. Lime is perhaps the most important fertili- 
zer we have, aside from barn-yard manure. It is useful on a large 
proportion of all the farms in the country, and may well be tried 
where it has not been used. Its effects, the best modes of appli- 
cation, and the rationale of its operation, should be carefully ob- 
served and studied by cultivators generally. 

MODE OF USING LIME. 

618. The best form of application is to sow fresh slaked 

lime in the finest condition possible, and immediately mix it 

thoroughly with the soil by harrowing and plowing. S ome spi-ead 

it upon the surfiice, and plow it in. The better way is to first 

plow the land, then sow the lime, and immediately harrow it in 

well. When spread in heaps, and left for days or weeks, it absorbs 

carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and is then far loss active upon 

the vegetable material within the soil. When fresh slaked with 

water, it is an almost impalpable powder, and can be much more 

thoroughly scattered and diffused throngh the soil. If it lay in 

heaps upon the field, or is air-slacked, it becomes carbonated, 

and though still friable or in a powdered condition, the particles 

are a thousand times less minute. Sown as a top-dressing, it acts 

upon a little of the surface, and some of it is washed into the soil ; 

and we have seen good results from this practice, but the elfect 

is far less than when sown fresh and immediately worked into the 

soil. 

cooper's lime spreader. 

619. The illustration herewith given represents a lime spread- 




THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 299 

er, used extensively in some pai ts of Pennsylvania, and other 
States, and is considered to be a very effectual and easily 
mannged implement. The advantages 
claimed foi- it are, that it saves labor 
and time, and does its work with inimit- 
able evenness. It is an entire machine 
in itself, to which a pnir of horses, oxen, 
or mules maybe hitched, and a load car- 
ried, without waste, to the place where it 

' . '■ COOPEE'S LIIIE OPKEADER 

IS to be used, where it may bo put into op- 
eration in half a minute, and will evenly distribute any desired 
qnantity to the acre. It weighs no more than a common ox-cart, 
and will carry as large a load. It feeds itself, crushes and pul- 
verizes all hard lumps except core. With it one man and team 
can do at least as much work as four men and two teams without 
it, while the evenness with which the work is clone can in no other 
way be equalled. The machinery is simple and strong, not liable 
to get out of order, and very durable — the working parts being 
all made of iron. This machme is said to sow plaster and ashes 
equally well. 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF COMMERCIAL TERTILIZERS. 

620. The inquiry is constantly being made as to the value of 
poudrette, nightsoil, superphosphate, and other commercial fer- 
tilizers, which are sold by the sack or barrel. If a person can 
obtain a genuine article, the good effect on crops resulting from 
the fertihzing hifluence of such manure will be readily seen. But 
manufacturers are so anxious to make a fortune in any such en- 
terprize, that they often sell thousands of dollars worth of stuff 
for genuine fertilizing material that will promote the growth of 
crops no more than the same amount of street dirt. Indeed, it has 
repeatedly been reported by those who were good authority, that 
a large proportion of the commercial fertilizers that is sold in 
barrels is nothing but street dirt. An untold number of farmers 
have purchased a few tons of such manure ; and after a year have 
reported that they have never been able to perceive any benefit 



300 

at all from its application. Such testimony shows conclusively 
that it is adulterated with an abundance of cheap and worthless 
material that is uo better than common soil to promote the 
growth of crops. 

G21. Samuel Church wrote to the editor of the American 
Agriculturist, soon after I commenced my editorial career with 
that paper, that he saw it stated that stove pipe and water 
buckets were taken from night soil before it was prepared forpou- 
drette. He then says : " I found in a barrel of poudrettc a year 
or two ago, the following articles : coal cinders, ashes, burnt and 
uiiburnt bones and shells, pieces of earthen, stone, glass and china- 
ware, pieces of window and looking glass, pieces of black, blue, 
green and white bottle glass, pieces of tobacco pipes, bricks, lime 
and cement, shirt and other buttons, nails, feathers, rosin, peanut 
shells, piece of lobster's claw, pins, piece of comb, a dress hook, 
hair pins, shavings and pieces of bark, isinglass, a pair of sleeve 
buttons, a hog's tooth, a marble, whalebone, rattan, straw, fish 
scales, pieces of springs of hoop skirts, wire, leather, rags, ^gg 
shells, piece of slate, a carpet tack, matches, corn, oats, seeds of 
dates, oranges, watermelons, mnskmelons, and raisins, two kinds 
of seeds name not known, cherry stones, saltpetre, a child's toy 
of turned wood, dead leaves, etc., etc., etc.'' A curious compost 
truly I And such stuff — yes, such worthless stuff as this, wiiich 
is not worth hauling from the barn yard to the nearest field, far- 
mers purchase at an exorbitant price, simply because some one 
has used a good article with excellent results. It is infinitely 
better for the farm, and more profitable for farmers, to feed out 
their coarse grain and make mutton, beef and barn yard manure, 
which they know will produce a good crop, than to sell it and 
purchase worthless street dirt, old tobacco pipes and jiieccs of 
lager beer glasses. Let me reiterate the thought, that farmers 
should aim to make their own manure ; and never purchase the 
worthless stuff of commorco, unless they have some good assurance 
that they will receive a fair equivalent for their money. 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 301 

DOCTOIl VOELCKER'S TESTIMONY. 

622. Dr. VoELciiER, makes use of the following language in 
exposing *' the tricks of the trade." 

C23. "If there ever was a time when the agriculturist had need 
to exercise especial caution in purchasing artificial manures, that 
time is the present ; for the practice of adulterating artificial fer- 
tilizers, such as guano, superphosphate of lime, nitrate of soda, &c., 
has reached an alarming point. The increasing demand for these 
manures, their inadequate supply, the general favor in which 
artificial fertilizers are now held by farmers, the deficiencies of 
natural sources from which a really valuable manure can be pre- 
pared ; disregard for the difference of the practical effects of a 
manure and its real money value ; the difficulty of arriving in a 
single season at a positive conclusion with regard to its eflBcacy, 
and other similar circumstances, are fruitful causes of the shameful 
adulterations in artificials of recognised value, and of the many 
inferior or worthless new compounds which are found in the 
manure-market at the present time. It is well known, moreover, 
to all who have watched this state of the manure-market, how 
easily testimonials can be obtained even from high agricultural 
authorities, notwithstanding the comparative inferiority of the 
manure. These testimonials are often fictitious, and even when 
genuine, cannot be relied upon in estimating the real money valu3 
of a manure. Under favorable circumstances, the application of 
the most worthless manure occasionally is attended with 
an abundant crop ; and as the dealer or manufacturer takes good 
care to select for publication only those opinions which are favor- 
able to the sale of the manufactured article, and does not tell us 
how many exjn-essions of opinion he has received, wdiich, when 
published, w^ould damage his business, it is evident that little de- 
pendence can be placed on printed testimonials. Indeed, the deal- 
er or manufactnrer has so many chances to reap a large profit for 
ii season from the sale of an all but worthless article, that it is not 
sarprisi-ig to find so many unscrupulous persons engaged in a 
CDiu-v? of fraudulent pursuits. Whilst thus, on the one hand, the 



302 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

iinsui^pccting farmer is swindled out of his money, and runs the 
risk of losing his crops too ; on the other hand, enterprising, well 
qualified, and honest persons arc deterred from employing their 
capital, energy and skill in an undertaking which, under more 
favorable conditions, could not fail to benefit alike the manu- 
factui'er and purchaser." 

BARN-YARD MANURE THE BEST. 

G24. Hon. A. B. Dickinson, a noted farmer of Steuben 
County, Now- York, said, in an address to a certain agricultural 
society : " With regard to manures, I lay it down as an axiom not 
to be gainsayed, that barn-yard is the best. It warms cold land, 
moistens dry, and dries wet land. It makes stifT, compact clay 
land mellow, and compresses and makes light soils productive. 
Every farmer should, therefore, not only make all be can, and 
save all he makes, but use it to the best advantage. It is neces- 
sary for every farmer to plow in a portion of his manure for roots, 
and in almost all cases on stiff clay soils, for corn. If plowed in 
for these crops, I would advise the use of a subsoil plow to follow 
after the common plow, — throwing manure in after the rubsoil 
plow, — an 1 then the plow need only run deep enough to get at 
the best of the surface soil, for the top soil, whether it be three 
inches or six, is the very best you have, and should be where your 
seeds are planted. If your land has been deei>plowed previously, 
and is sufQcicutly rich and deep enough for carrots, parsnips, or 
for corn roots, then the use of the subsoil plow can be dispensed 
with. (Sec par. 394 to 391.) 

G25. *'No farmer can afford to plow in all his manure, and the 
less the better, as one load will enrich the soil, if spread on its sur- 
face, more than two loads will if plowed in. On this point I 
wish to be distinctly understood, as I am not only at variance 
with chemists and the professors of agricultural colleges, but 
also with government trial fields in Great Britain and on the Con- 
tinent, and with some practical farmers nearer home. Yet I 
shall give my views with as much confidence as though no others 
were anywhere entertained; for if there is any one suhject that I 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 303 

think I understand, it is that of fertilizing the land. But I do 
not desire any man to take my say so, if I cannot give good 
and substantial reasons for " the faith that is in me," to inspire 
bim also with confidence in it. A fair trial of my views is very 
simple. Take a field where the soil is as nearly equal as possible; 
divide it by furrows into lands of exactly equal size ; plow 
in just double the number of loads of manure on the one that you 
spread on the surface of the next, and so alternate through the 
field. 

626. The lands being struck out straight, and exactly the same 
size, seed down with some crop so that your grass seed will be sure 
to take. The next year when you mow it, cure the product and put 
it on the scales, and you will find that the one-half wliere the 
manure was spread on the surface, will give you as much or more 
hay than the other half. But this is not all ; after the field has 
laid in grass for eight or ten years, tho surface-manured portions 
will give you a much thicker and richer sod to plow under than 
those where double the amount of manure was plowed in. The 
reason is simply that top-dressing mulches and feeds the roots. 
And, as instances rendering my theory still stronger, let me tell 
yon what I know. You may take sufficient of your poorest clay 
soil to spread one inch thick on a fijld, and plow that in. You 
would not perceive the least benefit from this, whilst an eighth or 
a sixteenth of an inch spread on the grass lands that have been 
impoverished by raising grain, would increasa the crop of hay from 
one-eighth to one-fourth, and in ten years would make an increase 
in the thickness of the soil.'^ 

BLOOD, AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 

627. The chemical composition of blood is nearly the same 
as lean flesh. There are saline substances, albumen, fibrin and 
other materials in it, of a highly fertilizing character. When 
employed as a manure, it exhales large quantities of ammonia, 
which promotes the growth of all kinds of crops. 

628. The most convenient and economical way of saving it is, 
to have it absorbed by dry muck, saw dust, tan bark, or any 



304 THE YOUXG farmer's MINUAL. 

other absorbent that will retain it until it can be deposited in 
the soil. "When it can be collected in large quantities at slaughter 
houses, the most convenient way is to let it run into a tight 
trough, from the floor where the animals are killed ; and then 
remove it with a scoop shovel or pails to the muck bed. This 
should be under shelter, and quite dry, as dam;) muck will not 
al)Sorb as much as dry. Spread the blood around on the muck, 
and shovel dry muck on it, until it is all absorbed. A bushel of 
gypsum to tliirty bushels of muck may be mingled with it. As 
it dries out, it should be shoveled over several times, and kept 
from heating so as to injure it. In a few months it will be suf- 
ficiently dry to put in barrels or boxes ; or it may be deposited 
in the basement of any building on a dry floor. The more char- 
coal there is mingled with it the better. When blood is man- 
aged in this way, it will make an excellent fertilizer for Indian 
corn, or almost any other crop ; and after reducing it fm^ by 
crushing or running through a threshing machine, it may be ap- 
plied broadcast or to hills by sprinkling it thin over an area of 
a foot or more in diameter where the plants are growing, or aro 
to grow. This kind of fertilizer should always be covered with 
a thin layer of soil as soon as it is distributed, to prevent the 
loss of the ammonia in it. Whenever this compost emits an 
odor, as it often does when it is heating, the mass should be 
shoveled over and the lumps crushed. A sprinkling of water 
will prevent its heating. 

VALUE OF SPENT TAN BARK. 

029. The great excellence of spent tan bark consists, for the 
most part, in the mechanical influence which it exerts on the pro- 
ductiveness of the soil, and also in its great capacity to absorb the 
liquid manure of animals, which would otherwise never be saved 
and carried to the field. When pure tan bark is mingled with soils 
that are very compact, or in which pure clay or gravelly clay 
predominates, it makes them more porous and mellow, and in- 
creases their productiveness. But when it is mingled with soils 
that are already too light and porous, it has an injurious influence 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 303 

on the productiveness of the soil. Therefore the young farmer 
will be able to decide, with almost unerring certainty, whether 
spent tan bark will or will not promote the productiveness of 
his soil. On moist farms, it will pay to haul it one or two miles, 
providing it is properly managed. 

THE TRUE WAY TO USE SPENT TAN BARK. 

GoO. If wet tan bark be spread in a stable or yard for the 
purpose of absorbing the liquid portions of manure, we shall find 
that it will take up but very little of it, because it is already 
so full of water that there is no room for any liquid manure. 
Therefore, unless it is nearly dry, before it is spread in the stable 
or yard, it may as well be spread directly on the soil, and thus 
save handling over twice. Spent tan bark ought always to be 
deposited in an open shed, w^here it will dry out before it is need- 
ed in the stable or piggery. Dry tan bark will absorb a great 
quantity of liquid manure, which will rectify the acidity of the 
bark ; and at the same time hasten its decomposition as soon 
as it has been mingled with the soil. 

G31. Dry tan bark will make excellent bidding for any kind 
of animals ; and it will retain what it has absorbed much bet- 
ter than any kind of straw. When it is used for beddia^-, a few 
bushels should be spread on the llooi beneath the animal ; and 
as soon as it is well saturated with liquid manure, it should be 
removed, and a fresh supply placed beneath them. If tan bark 
be used for littering sheep, it should bo covered with damp straw, 
to prevent its getting into their wool. Dry tan bark is valuable 
in a piggery, as it will increase the bulk of swine manure, and 
thus make the manure go farther, when it is mingled with the 
soil, or when it is used as a top dressing for gi'aia or grass, 
which is very desirable, and important also, in distributing ma- 
nure that is as concentrated as are the droppings of fattening 
swine. The manure that is made when spent tan bark is used 
will be a very excellent fertilizer to apply to the soil when it is 
being prepared for a crop of roots of any kind, as it supplies the 
plants V ith an abundance of those salts which are essential for 



306 THE YOUNG FARMKR's MANUAL. 

promoting their luxuriant growth. What has been said of spent 
tan bark is equally true of saw dust, turning shavings, and short 
shavings of planing mills ; and they should all be used in the 
same manner. But if they be wet they cannot absorb liquid 
manure. 

THE nUSBANDINQ OP MANURES. 

632. The New York State Agricultural S oclety discussed 
the subject of manures at one of their winter meetings ; and the 
following extracts arc a summary of the discussion. It shows 
that American farmers are beginning to appreciate the value of 
manure. Farmers must first see and feel the importance of an 
object before they are prepared to act correctly and understand* 
ingly on the subject : 

" I. Where suQicient has been reserved for arable lands, barn- 
yard manure may be spread upon pastures and meadows undor 
the following restrictions : 

a. ''If spread early in the spring on pastures designed for 
immediate use, it should not be the droppings of that species of 
domestic animals intended to be placed in the pastures. 

h. "It should never be spread upon meadows in the spring, 
as the coarser parts will be caught by the hay-rake and mixed 
with the hay, imparting to it a musty smell, if not tainting and 
poisoning it with fungus. 

c. "It may be evenly spread on meadows at any time after har- 
vest and lightly harrowed or bushed, especially if the after-math 
is heavy, so that the grass may not be smothered. 

d. "The weather should indicate the absence of high winds, 
the approacii of moderate rains, or the presence of copious dews, 
so that the ammoniacal portion of the manure may not be lost. 

e. "On rapidly sloping lands, a heavier top-dressing should 
be applied near the summit, unless furrows such as are necessary 
in irrigation are made, so as to prevent the manure being washed 
with heavy rains to the bottom. 

/. " In winter no manure should be spread on either pastures 
or meadows when hard frozen, even when most of the atmos- 



301 

plicric conditions above alluded to are present, unless the surface 
is or soon will be covered with snow, and then only on j^round 
cither level or gently rolling, so that in case of a thaw the melt- 
ing snows may not render the distribution of the manure com- 
paratively useless. 

II. " Under a system of rotation of crops, as supposed in the 
question, the husbanding of manure is indispensable to thrift iu 
farming, and is to be regulated according to the supply of litter 
and the method of feeding adopted. 

III. '' On farms whose principal staple is grain, the amount 
of straw is not unfrequently in excess of the feeding material re- 
served, and in such case it is necessary to spread it profusely over 
the barnyard, that it may be trodden down by cattle and 
sheep, and mixed with their droppings. In such cases it is suf- 
ficient that the barnyard should be dished or provided with one 
or more tanks for the holding of the drainage of the mass ; that 
fermentation should be allowed to proceed until the straw is 
disintegrated sufficiently either to turn the mass into heaps (into 
which the liquid contents of the tanks arc to be conveyed by 
pump and troughs,) or drawn out into the fields for spring and 
fall crops — of which method, as generally in all departments of 
the farm service, the labor that can be applied is the discriminat- 
ing test. 

IV. *' Where from the scarcity of straw upon a farm, its high 
price in neighboring markets, or its being an element of food pre- 
pared for stock, it is necessary to economize its use, the system of 
box or stall feeding is to be resorted to, and husbanding of ma- 
nures is determined as the feeding is either of animals to be fat- 
tened or reared. 

V. " In the former case, neat cattle may be placed in boxes 
not less than 8 by 10 feet, the bottoms slightly dished with a 
view to drainage or being filled with muck or other absorbents, 
and the animals wintered with slight additions of cut straw as 
litter, so as to prevent the loss of hair and other cutaneous affec- 
tions, (which proceed from the heating of straw if too liberally 



308 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

supplied,) and the whole mass of droppings, &c., left until re* 
moved to the fields. 

VI. " In the latter case, that of the rearing of young animals, 
a like method may be pursued, but if their value will admit of a 
greater regard being paid to cleanliness, &c., the box should have 
a slatted floor of oak or other durable strips 1| inches thick, 3 
inches wide, and J an inch apart, over a paved, clayed or cemen- 
ted floor, inclined so as to carry the drainage of the box into 
gutters leading to a tank, and the manure removed as often at 
least as once in six weeks, placed under cover of a roof, either 
permanent or of boards battened, turning on pins, and moved 
by a long lever, as in sheds for drying of brick, the liquid ma- 
nure (if not used separately ) being pumped from the tank and 
conveyed by troughs over the mass so as to prevent fire-fanging. 
If used separately, the sheds are to be opened to occasional rains 
for the same purpose. 

VII. '*The manure from animals stabled in the ordinary way 
is to be treated as last described, and it is desirable that the ma- 
nure shed should be constructed with access to it from a level 
below that on which the manure is deposited, so that in winter 
the manure may be carted out upon lands plowed in the fall, the 
fresh masses placed on top, preserving thos3 underlying from be- 
ing thoroughly frozen. 

VIII. " When sheep are alone raised, they should be kept 
under sheds, with small yards connected therewith, and their 
droppings may be treated either as in the case of fattening or 
growing animals, in the discretion of the owner. 

IX. ' ' Where no portion of the manure is designed for top 
dressings of pastures, that of horses and neat cattle may be al- 
ways advantageously placed under tho samo cjver, their different 
capacities for developing heat operating favorably against over 
heating. 

X. " As the value of straw as an article of food if cut up, 
mixed with feed, thoroughly wetted and allowed to stand in mass 
for a few hours, so as to dcvelope heat, or if steamed, is at its 
lowest price worth at least twice as much for food as for the 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 309 

manure resulting from its use as litter ; where beds of muck or 
peat exist on a farm they should be ditched, and afterwards 
pared, so that by the use of these materials when dried, the 
straw may be used as an article of food, a greater number of 
animals kept on the farm, and greater masses of manure made, 
and with a material more valuable that straw as an absorbent 
and fertilizer, and for the prevention of the droppings of cattle 
at a more uniform rate of temperature." 

EXrERIMENTS WITn SURFACE I\rANURING. 

G33. James M. Garnett, a Virginia farmer, an excellent 
writer on agriculture, says : " I began penning my cattle late in 
the spring, and continued it until frost, in pens of the same size, 
moved at regular intervals of time, and containing the same 
number of cattle during the whole period. These pens were al- 
ternately plowed and left unplowed until the following spring, 
when all were planted in corn, immediately followed by wheat. 
The superiority of both crops on all the pens which had remained 
unplowed for so many months after the cattle had manured them, 
was just as distinctly marked as if the dividing fences had contin- 
ued standing ; it was too plain even to admit of the slightest 
doubt. A near neighbor, a young farmer, had made the same 
experiment on somewhat different soil the year before, but with 
results precisely the same. Similar trials I have made and seen 
made by others with dry straw alternately plowed in as soon as 
spread, and left on the surface until the next spring. In every 
case the last method proved best, as far as the following crop 
would prove it. The same experiment has been made by myself 
and others of my acquaintance, with manure from the horse 
stables and winter farm pens, consisting of much unrotted corn 
offal, and without a solitary exception, either seen by me or 
heard of, the surface application, after the corn was planted, pro- 
duced most manifestly the best crop. Upon these numerous 
concurrent and undeniable facts my opinion has been founded, 
that ii is best to apply mamirc on the surface of the landP 

634. Mr. Garnett contends that no loss of ammonia en- 



310 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

sues from surface manuring; and in support of this fact asserts 
that if such were the case, such land as had been used as summer 
cow-pens, when plowed up and the dressings turned under, would 
have produced better crops than that which was left unplowed; 
but that in no instance did it do so. As a further argument, he 
reasons that the fertilizing elements of manure being soluble in 
water, more probably pass down into the soil, as well from their 
own gravity as from its possessing a greater attraction than does 
the atmosphere, and asks if plant food be subjected to loss by 
evaporation, and as this evaporation is constantly going on even 
when below the surface, why it does not impoverish the soil with- 
out any cultivation whatever ? He claims — and ho is certainly 
right in saying this — that it is only incessant culture without 
manure that produces either partial or total barrenness. We, 
too, believe in the superior advantage to bo derived from surface 
manuring, but only when it is practiced within certain limits 
and under certain conditions of soil. On all light sands, and on 
sandy and gravelly loams, lands manured on the surface in the 
fall of the year, on fields that are level or nearly so, and before 
the frost imposes an impenetrable barrier in the descent of the 
soluble portions of manure, the crops so top-dressed will be de- 
cidedly benefitted. But on all soils containing a large admixture 
of clay, on all slopes and hillsides where the water passes olf easi'y 
and rapidly in heavy rains, but little, if any, advantage will ac- 
crue. In all these latter cases the manure, to retain its fertiliz- 
ing properties, must be plowed under. 

635. In surface manuring, a distinction should be mado 
between green long manure and that which has been well rotted. 
The former requires the chemical action that is constantly going 
on in the soil, in order to reduce to a condition that shall render 
it perfectly adapted to the nourishment of the growing crop. 
The latter, by fermentation, has already become sufficiently sol- 
uble for this purpose. Moreover, long manure, when plowed 
under, has also a mechanical effect on the texture of heavy soils ; 
it renders such soils lighter, more porous ; facilitates the perco- 
lation of rain water through them ; renders them more retentive 



1 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 311 

of moisture, and at the same time allows a free circulation of air. 
Quite a number of j^ears ago, but subsequently to the experiments 
which Mr. GARNiiiT describes, we also endeavored to test the 
merits of what might then have been styled the new theory of 
surface manuring. The soil was a poor gravelly loam which, as 
it fronted on a turnpike that was much travelled, we were par- 
ticularly desirous of getting down to grass. It was hillside land, 
sloping with a tolerably easy grade to the north and east. Dur- 
ing the latter part of summer a quantity of manure had been 
hauled out and piled up in a heap ready for distribution when 
the time for putting in the wheat crop should arrive. As the 
field was quite an extensive one, and needed very heavy manur- 
ing, the amount which had been collected when the period for 
plowing commenced was not more than sufficient to cover one- 
half of it at the rate of fifteen two-horse cart loads to the acre. 
Upon one-half of it the manure was spread accordingly, the re- 
mainder being plowed and seeded to wheat and grass at the 
same time. Immediately after this work had been completed, 
we pushed forward teams daily to the neighboring city to haul 
our additional manures for the purpose of top-dressing the re- 
maining half. As fast as the manure was brought from town, it 
was carted over the land and spread. Although due diligence 
was exercised, a considerable breadth of soil was left uncovered 
when the heavy frosts set in and locked everything up. The 
work of manuring went on nevertheless, until, finally, the entire 
field had received the quantity per acre allotted to it. We now 
awaited the result. It turned out after harvest as follows : — 
That half of the field where the manure had been plowed under 
produced a fine crop of wheat ; but it was greatly injured by the 
rust — the grass, however, was tolerably well set, though rather 
thin. On that portion which was manured on the surface, be- 
fore the heavy frosts came on, the stand of wheat was also good, 
and was less affected by the rust. The stand of grass was bet- 
tor than on the half on which the manure had been plowed under. 
On the remaining portion of the field, which was top-dressed dur- 
ing the winter, the wheat produced badly, and the grass did not 



812 

come up quite so well. After the lapse of two years, the follow- 
ing were the results : The grass on that part of the field where 
the manure was plowed under stood thick and grew well, and 
produced really good crops for that kind of soil. The grass on 
the two-thirds of the remaining half that was surface-manured 
before the winter set in, was gradually dwindling out, and yielded 
but poorly ; \\hilst on the third of the half of the field that was 
top-dressed during the winter, there was scarcely any grass at all. 
We give these facts as they occurred in our own experience. 

636. J. W. Clark says : " Practically considered, surface 
manuring or top-dressing has many considerations to recommend 
it. One of these is, that it enables us to draw the manure 
out of the way, and out of the room or place that we require for 
muking new mixings in. Another is, that we can do this at a 
time, namely, after fall plowing is — and generally all plowing 
should be — done ; and frequently when frost renders it impracti- 
cable to plow at all. Small or large quantities of manure can be 
drawn at much less cost in the value of time at such season than 
iu the spring. The manure itself is also dryer, less weighty, and 
bulk for bulk can be much more rapidly and cheaply handled 
late in the fall than in the spring : besides the saving that is ef- 
fected by preventing waste, by washing and soakage, that in too 
many yards depletes the dung of its most valuable ingredients, if 
left to be got out in spring. Add to this the advantage of 
spreading directly from the wagon or cart on all fall plowed 
ground intended for early spring sowing with oats, wheat, bar- 
ley, &c , and by this means saving the labor of heaping, and its 
necessary consequent, much more unequal distribution, than is 
incident to spreading from the load ; and thus preventing the 
unnecessary occupation of busy spring time with work that 
properly belongs to the fall, and we have a pretty strong array 
of economical considerations in favor of manuring on the surfac^c 
in the fall, thus following the course and example of nature, cither 
as to manner or time." 



THE YOUiVG farmer's MANUAL. 313 



DEPTH FOR BURYING MANURE. 



63 Y. Men arc divided as to the proper depth of burying ma- 
nure. Some hold that it sinks in the soil, is washed downward 
by the leaching rains, and should therefore be applied near or 
at the surface. Others assert that its volatile and most valuable 
parts rise by fermentation; and that, consequently, it should be 
buried deep. Kow, it usually happens when doctors disagree that 
both are partly right and partly wrong ; but in the present in- 
stance they are both a little in the right, and a great deal in the 
wrong. Manure usually stays very nearly where it is put. If 
buried near the surface, it remains near the surface ; if buried 
deep, there it remains ; if jDlowed under in large lumps, it has but 
little power to rise, sink, or in any other way to intermix itself, 
and hence the reason that a thorough pulverization or harrowing 
before manure is turned under, gives a result in large crops. 

638. The power which clay has to absorb the fertilizing por- 
tions of manure is very great. Soils which possess a medium 
amount of clay or loam with a medium degree of tenacity will 
absorb all that is valuable in ordinary yard manure, equal nearly 
to their own bulk. Forty loads of manure to the acre form a heavy 
coating ; yet this is only one load to four square rods, constitut- 
ing a depth, when spread, of only one third of an inch. Conse- 
quently, when a coating of forty loads to the acre is plowed un- 
der, the volatile parts have only to pass one third of an inch or 
so before they are all absorbed by the soil. Hence the error of 
supposing that they can possibly, in ordinary soils, rise or sink 
to any practicable depth. And hence also the great importance 
of mixing manures very intimately through all parts of the soil, if 
plants are to get their full benefit, and not be over-fed at one part 
of their roots and starved at the other, 

639. There are many proofs of the correctness of the position 
here taken. We have made large piles of compost, consistuig of 
one third rich stable manure and two thirds of loam and turf, yet 
all the odor was completely retained, and not the slightest portion 
passing off could be perceived by the smell. We have buried 

14 



314 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

large dead animals with a coating of only six inches of loana ; not 
the faintest indication of the decomposition below ever reached 
tlie surface. On the other hand, the soil which forms the bottom 
of manure yards is not found even within a few inches of the 
surface to be at all enriched by the piles of fertility which rest 
upon it. The true rule for burying manure is to j^lace it just at 
such depth in the soil as the roots of the crop usually extend,which 
will vary with different plants. Some of the grasses, for instance, 
form a turf very near the surface, and hence an autumn top-dress- 
ing will soak in enough to benefit them essentially. Clover roots 
run deeper, and this crop is consequently but little benefitted by 
top-dressings when of much size, except so far as they operate iii 
keeping the surface moist. The roots of fruit trees are still deeper, 
and they derive but little advantage, except from manures well 
spaded or worked in. They, however, possess an important ad- 
vantage over annuals and perennial rooted plants ; by continuing 
in growth for successive years, those roots wdiich happen to run 
into the region of fertility soon throw out numerous fibres, and 
secure an amount of nourishment of which annual plants, in con- 
sequence of their more limited powers of extension, are not able 
to avail themselves. 

640. There are, however, not many crops which do not need 
the full depth afforded by ordinary plowing ; and hence the 
best practice for nearly all kinds of culture is to spread the 
manure well, harrow it most thoroughly, in order to break it as 
finely as possible, and at the same time to mix it intimately with 
the surface ; then turn it under by ordinary plowing, and the lower 
half of the inverted earth will furnish a thoroughly enriched bed 
for the roots to penetrate. If a greater depth of fertility is need- 
ed than ordinary plowing affords, the coat of harrowed manure 
may be thrown under ten or twelve inches by means of a double 
mouldboard or Michigan plow ; ( See par. 355,) and then another 
coat of manure spread, han'owed and plowed under by a light or 
p^ang-plow. The young plants of the crop are thrown rapidly 
forward by the upper stratum of manure, and at a later stage of 
growth are equally stimulated by the lower stratum. ( See Country 
Gentleman.^ 



THE YOUNCf rxUlMER's MANUAL. 315 

LIGHT CROPS AND ABUNDANT MANURING. 

G41. Farmers frequently complain that they have been greatly 
disappointed in tlie quantity of grain per acre, after having ap« 
plied such liberal dressing of barn-yard manure; and they often 
inquire why it should be so, even when a soil is well drained and 
has not been impoverished by a long succession of exhausting crops. 
As a general rule this subject may be explained in the following 
manner : A liberal dressing of manure that has been made by 
animals that have consumed little or no coarse grain during the 
foddering season, will increase the quantity of grain but little. 
When a farmer has fattened a good lot of mutton or beef on 
coarse gram and oil meal, and has taken proper care of the manure, 
we never hear him complain tliat he manured highly and harvest- 
ed a light crop of grain. The disappointment usually is in har- 
vesting much more than was anticipated when manure is used 
which was made from fattening animals. 

642. If we use the manure of milch cows, for example, which 
have subsisted on nothing but hay and roots, and a httlo buck- 
w^heat bran, their droppings will produce good crops of hay or of 
cornstalks ; but the manure will be lacking in that material which 
will produce large kernels. Then tliere is another weighty con- 
sideration on this point. The manure may have been of the most 
.excellent quality once; but by having been exposed to storms and 
sunshine in the yard, or by having been spread in the field for 
several hot and drying days in the spring, a large portion of the 
fertilizing material has evaporated. Although chemists assure m 
that there is a large quantity of oil in a ton of straw, still if far- 
mers manure their land with it, that oil, Avhich many suppose will 
increase the amount of grain, only promotes a good growth of 
straw. In the spring of 1863 I purchased a lot of manure — 
almost pure ordure — which was made by milch cows. The Indian 
corn and potatoes which grew where that manure was applied 
were unusually small, while the stalks and tops were exceedingly 
large. Many of the hills of potato tops, when stretched up, 
^vould reach six or eight inches higher than my head — five feet 



316 THE YOUXG FARMEPw's MANUAL. 

nine inelics. If wc manure with grain, we shall get grain in re- 
turn. If we manure with grass, hay and straw, we need not ex- 
pect a very abundant crop of grain. I think farmers will find this 
correct the world over. 

BONES, AND THEIR UTILITY. 

043. Bones are the very cream, the life, the source of fertility 
of our best soils. Let all the bone-producing material be removed 
from our soils, and we could raise no grain, no grass, no cattle, no 
vegetables, no nothing ; and the liusbandman would toil without 
any assurance of even a poor compensation. Cattle, horses, sheep, 
and all other domestic animals, and even wild animals, arc con- 
stantly picking the substance of which bone is made oat of the 
soil ; and farmers are annually carrying it away to market ; and 
in many localities they have been picking for so many years, that 
bone has become "djspot scace," as my old grandmother used to 
say, so that it hardly pays — and in many places does not pay to 
get it into an available shape for either the advantages of home 
or foreign trade. Tons upon tons of bone-producing substance 
are removed from our soils every season, not only in our beef 
cattle, pork, mutton, and other anim.ils, but in milk, butter and 
cheese ; and every ounce of it that is carried away impoverishes 
the soil. 

644. In the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, New- York, 
and even in South America, bones are collected and bought and 
sold by the ton, and shipped to New- York, where they are sawed 
lip, and crushed up, and then sacked and barreled up, and scatter- 
ed all over the world. Old bones, new bones, and bones of all 
kinds are collected and assorted, and sold at prices according to 
kind and quality. The knuckle bones and fragments are all thrown 
into one pile, and sell for so much per ton ; and the long shin 
bones and thigh bones are kept separate, and command a greater 
price than tlie knuckle bones, as the latter are worked up into 
buttons ; and the fragments and pithy portions are crushed and 
nsed as a fertilizer of the soil. 

645. Farmers in America are not half awake to the importance 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 317 

of saying tlic bones that arc wasted on tlieir farms during tlio 
year, and of applying them to their soils. Every one hundred 
pounds of bones are worth not less than fifty cents when applied to 
the soil ; and if the soil is well drained, they will be still more 
valuable. It will, no doubt, be interesting to farmers to know, not 
only how bone is employed as a fertilizer, but how they are used 
in some of the arts, and how they are prepared for agricultural 
purposes. 

HOW BONE BUTTONS ARE MADE. 

64 G. In most bone mills is a button manufactory, where all 
the bones that are sound enough are used up in the manufacture 
of buttons. All bones that have not been bleached to death in 
the weather are boiled to death in large kettles, to diive out all 
the grease and render them softer, so that the bpne dust will not 
produce so much grain or grass ; and farmers will be obliged to 
purchase more of it, and they will not wear out so many saws 
and drills in fitting them up; and then dried so that they will break 
to pieces sooner after we have sewed them on our garments. 
Vast quantities of bone-grease are sold at the bone mills, which 
would render the buttons much more durable, and the bone dust 
much more valuable as a fertilizer. If one good boiling does not 
appear to be enough, they are boiled again and again. 

G47. On one side of the shop are a number of circular saws, 
about eight inches in diameter, having very fine teeth, which are 
all hung over a water-trough, and the lower side of the saws re- 
volve with a frightful velocity while hanging in the water. Bones 
are so hard that saws would be heated so hot in a few minutes as 
to spoil them, did they not run in water. The large ends of the 
bones arc first sawed off, and then the long straight pieces are slit 
up into bone slabs, as logs are sawed into boards, about one- 
eighth or one-fourth of an inch thick, according to the kind of 
buttons to be made. One hand will saw about a barrelful of 
slabs per day. The slabs are then held in button lathes, and blank 
buttons are cut out of these slabs by a kind of centre-bit, some- 
what like cutting wheels out of a plank. Now about a half 
bushel of these buttons are put in a polishing barrel, where they 



318 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

rre kept revolving for a few days, when they arc carrlcLl to tlio 
drill presses, and one button at a time is placed under the drills, 
and two, three or any desired number of holes drilled in them at 
once, and almost instantaneously. After the holes are all drilled, 
about half a busliel of tliemare put into a polishing barrel, which 
revolves slowly, where they roll and tumble over each other for 
about a week, which polishes them completely, when some of them 
are colored and carried to the assorting room, where nimble fingers 
of children assort them and put them in papers. 

G48. All the saw dust, drill dust, and polishing dust is col- 
lected and barreled for market for fertilizing purposes; and iftlie 
saw dust which is collected in the water is taken out and dried 
properly before it begins to decompose, it is not injured by hav. 
ing been wet ; but it is frequently rendered almost worthless by 
being allowed to remain wet until it has become nearly rotten. 
All the big joints and fragments are then run through the crush- 
ers, which arc very strong-toothed cylinders of cast iron revolv- 
ing together, between which the bones pass, ripping, cracking 
and snapping ; and are carried in elevators to the story above, 
where all fragments that will not pass through sieves are brouglit 
back to the hopper, to be run through again and again, until 
they are all reduced to a given degree of fineness. The coarsest 
quality of ground bone is about like large kernels of rye and wheat. 
This quality of ground bone is usually put in barrels, while the 
liner qualities of bone are put in large sacks made of very coarse 
material. 

ADULTERATION OF GROUND BONE. 

G49. Any way to cheat the farmers 1 Clara shells, oyster shells, 
and many other kinds of shells, which are of little or no value 
when compared with ground bone, arc often worked in, which in- 
creases the profit of the bone dust dealer and diminishes the 
value of ground bone as a fertilizer. It is rather difiicult, how- 
ever, to work in much of such substances in ground bone of the 
coarsest quality, because it can very readily be detected ; but 
among that which is ground very fine, a vast deal of aslies, plaster, 
and even dirt and loam and sand are worked in to increase the 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANXAL. 319 

weight, without much expense. Of course this has a great ten- 
dency to bring ground bone, and bone dust, and bone for fer- 
tilizers of any form, into disrepute. 

650. Ground clam shells and oyster shells are of little value 
as a fertilizer when campared with good bones ; and when bone 
has been boiled until it is as poor us bone can be, and one-fourth 
of it is clam or other shells, those who purchase it as a fertilizer 
receive a very small compensation for their expense and efforts 
towards enriching their soil. 

651, Bones are sometimes dissolved with sulphuric acid ; and 
then plaster, some ashes, loam and sand, or muck are mingled 
with them and worked over and over, until the mass is reduced 
to nearly dry powder, which is sold for about sixty dollars per 
ton. Could farmers procure acid at a reasonable compensation, 
and dissolve their bones at home, it would be a consideration 
worthy of their notice. But at the present prices for bones and 
labor it will hardly pay ; and for a farmer to pay sixty dollars 
per ton — the price demanded for this kind of fertilizer— and to 
pay freight on it and cartage, and the profits of an agent or two, 
will never pay. 

G52. On this subject of adulterating fertilizers, the editor of 
the Rural Advertiser says : *' The articles which we know of 
having been m'xed with so-cilled superpho*?phate of lime were 
" powdered anthracite coal," "anthracite coal ashes," and "Jersey 
marl." We have recently made another discovery of two articles, 
introduced into hone dust, and which could not be told by outward 
inspection. We do not give names, neither do we know where 
these adulterated artlcjes are to be found, but that they are and 
have been Offered for sale in Philadelphia there is no doubt. In 
one case, a friend of ours, who uses a considerable quantity of 
qitartz-sand of a certain degree of fineness, was told by the party 
selling to him, that the finer grade of sand he was in the habit of 
selling to the manufacturers of hone dust, the demand for it being 
a steady one. Here was a rich development, truly. In another 
case, within a few days, a person came into an agricultural ware- 
house in this city to sell ground oyster shells. lie brought a 



320 THE YOUXG farmer's MAXUAL. 

sample to sliow, and we have it now in our store, for inspection 
by the curious. Its color and fineness would allow it to be mixed 
with bone dust without detection, from external appearance. 
He offered it at eleven dollars per ton, and said lie^^ri hccn selling 
it to hone manufacturers, but expressed a great desire to prevent 
til is being known by the farmers. lie said it was important to 
keep it from them; but that at the present price of bone dust it 
could be mixed with great profit. 

DISSOLVING BONES IN ASHES. 

653 There has been not a little said and written, in years past, 
about dissolving bones by putting them in damp uuleached ashes. 
Thousands of farmers have made an effort to use up their bones 
in this way ; but have almost always failed. Ashes will seldom 
dissolve old bones ; and, as a general rule, old bones will remain 
in wet ashes as long as a piece of granita without being dissolved. 
This is particularly true of old bones that have been bleached in 
the weather for several years. If the bones of very young 
animals be placed in a barrel of best kind of wood ashes — the 
ashes from hickory or sugar maple for example — and kept in a 
warm place, most of them will, in a few mouths, become a soft 
pulpy mass, when dry muck or loam may be mingled with it, 
which will make an excellent fertilizer for any kind of grain or 
grass. But in case the ashes are made of bark or old pieces of 
rails or soft wood, a much longer time will be required to dissolve 
even fresh bones, if they are the bones of young animals, than 
most farmers will have patience to wait for. If a farmer must 
necessarily expend as much in preparing any kind of fertilizer as 
the extra amount of grain is worth which it will produce, he had 
better by far use some other substance which will cost less, and 
produce less grain, grass, or anything else, than to attempt to 
use crushed bones, notwithstanding their value as a fertilizer, 
when reduced to a fine powder. 

BURNING BONES. 

C54. It is the practice with many farmers to put all the bones 



THE YOUNG farmer's MAXUAL. 321 

wliicli they can collect into their stoves and burn them until 
they will fall to pieces. But this is a very objectionable practice; 
because about one-third part of fresh bones consists of animal 
matter, which would promote a very luxuriant growth of plants 
as soon as it may be placed where the roots would come in con- 
tact with it. But burning the bones drives off all this valuable 
part into the atmosphere ; and it is lost to the proprietor ; and 
nothing will remain but the lime and some other ingredients 
which are not the best fertilizers. 

(J55. Pulverized bones, after they have been burned, will be 
a tolerable good fertilizer on some soils ; but their chief excellence 
has been burned up. Consequently the effect on whatever crop 
they may be applied to will be hardly perceptible ; and their 
efficacy as a fertilizer will not be half as lasting as if they had 
not been burned. 

THE WAY TO SAVE AND MANAGE BONES. 

65G. Every farmer should procure a large tub, or molasses 
hogshead, and place it at some convenient nook, and cover tlie 
bottom with two or three inclies of muck or fine soil. Now, 
spread on leached or unleached aslies, two or three inches deep, 
Then let all the bones from the kitchen be thrown into this hogs- 
head. Large shin bones and knuckle bones ought to be broken 
in pieces before they are put in. When there is a layer about 
six inches thick, cover them with a few inches in depth of ashes. 
Then spread on two inches of fine soil or muck, then one peck 
of gypsum. Now, let the mass be wet with soap suds occasion- 
ally. This mode of managing bones will answer on a limited 
scale. But where there are several tons of large bones, and a 
lot of horn piths, the only reliable way will be to crush them by 
machinery. If kept in ashes, dogs will not carry them away. In 
the course of a few months of warm weather, most of the small 
bones will be reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, when they should be 
shoveled out and mingled thoroughly with dry muck and 
gypsum, when it will be ready for use. The hard chunks that 
will not dissolve may be put into another batch. The alkali of 
- 14* 



322 TnE YOUNG i'armer's manual. 

the asliC3 is llic cliicf agent in dissolving the bones ; and the muck 
and gypsnm will absorb the gases that might escape. 

C57. In many of our large cities and villages, many tons of 
excellent bones might be collected for one-fourth their value. If 
a sugar hogshead — which would cost twenty-five cents — were 
placed near every slaughter-house, butchers would be willing to 
fill it with skulls and other bones in a short time, for a reasonable 
compensation. Poor boys would collect bones from house to house 
— as they do in our most populous cities — for about twenty-Gvo 
or thirty cents per hundred pounds. 

658. Horn piths may often be collected in large quantities, 
at tanneries, for a trifling sum ; and many times tanners are 
pleased to have them taken away for nothing. Horn piths are 
not as good as some kinds of bone. But they are an excellent 
fertilizer ; and are much better than some bones. If they have 
become very dry, they must be cut to pieces with an ax and 
ground, as ashes will not dissolve them. 

EXPERIMENT IN GRINDING BONES. 

G59. Having one of Joice's S tarr grain mills, I collected a 
'lot of bones which had lain in the woods more than two years, 
and put the mill in operation with two horses hitched to the 
lever. There were some large shin and thigh bones which appear- 
ed strong enough to break the mill to fragments ; but they snap- 
ped and fell to pieces almost as readily as if they had been ears 
of Indian corn. I then put in jaw bones, teeth and all, and 
an entire skull, and they went through with very little power, I 
think not half as much as is required to grind Indian corn. I 
then took a very large new bone, from which the beef had just 
been removed, and it was reduced to small fragments as if it had 
been a piece of half-rotten wood. I then adjusted the mill to 
grind about as fine as bark is usually ground at tanneries. There 
is so much marrow and oleaginous matter in bones, that it would 
not be ])ossible to get them through were the mill adjusted to 
grind them as fine as coarse meal. It is not necessary that bones 
should be reduced to a very fine powder, although the finer they 



THE YOUNG FAUMEll's MANUAL. 323 

are ground, the greater the effect will be immediately on any crop. 
If they are ground coarse, their fertilizing influence will be felt 
on crops for years to come ; and therefore nothing will be lost in 
the end by not having them reduced very fine. After a lot of 
bones have been run through the mill, the largest fragments can 
be run through the second time, and thus reduced as fine as de- 
sirable. I found that there is a great amount of marrow in large 
bones, even after they have lain bleaching in the weather for 
several years ; and this has a tendency to cause the mill to clog ; 
although mine never clogged but once in consequence of it, and 
then by letting up a little on the set screw the bones passed 
through freely. 

660. " Will it pay to grind bones in this manner V^ Most 
assuredly it will. I have not had a sufficient amount of bones to 
experiment with as I desire ; but I have ground enough to satisfy 
myself that a span of horses will grind more than one hundred 
pounds in an hour with case ; and it could be performed when 
teams and hands would be idle, or by boys, for whom it would 
be fine amusement to see them reduced to fragments. And, more 
than all, one hundred pounds of such bones as farmers would col- 
lect and grind up would be worth more than twice as much 
as the ground bone of commerce. This that I have ground smells 
very strong, and is very rich in fertilizing material. 

COMPOSITION OF BONE. 

661. It has been shown by accurate examinations of animal 
bodies, that the blood, bones, hair, &c., as well as all the organs, 
contain a certain quantity of mineral substance, v;lthout the pre- 
sence of which in the food these tissues could not be formed. 
Blood contains potash and soda in combination with phosphoric 
acid. The bile is rich in alkalies and sulphur. The blood glo- 
bules contain iron. The principal ingredient of bones is phos- 
phate of lime. Nervous and cerebral substance contains phos- 
])horic acid and alkaline phosphates ; and the gastric juice 
contains free muriatic acid. 

662. The importance of manuring with bones must be obvious 



324 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

to all. The bones of man and animals in general have their 
origin from apatite ( phosphate of lime) which is never absent from 
fertile land. The bone earth passes from the soil into hay, straw 
and other kinds of food, which h afterwards consumed by 
animals. Now, when wo consider that bones contain 55 per cent, 
of the phosphates cJT lime and magnesia, and if we assume that 
hay contains the same quantity of these salts as wheat straw, 
then it follows that 8 lbs. of bones contain as much phosphate 
of lime as 1,000 lbs. of hay or wheat straw; and 20 lbs. asmucli 
phosphoric acid as 1,000 lbs. of the grahi of wheat or oats. By 
manuring an acre of land with 60 lbs. of fresh bones we 
furnish sufiicient manure to supply three crops (mangel wurzol, 
wheat and rye) with phosphates. But the form in which they 
are restored to a soil does not appear to be a matter of in- 
difference. For the more fmely the bones are reduced to powder, 
and the more intimately they are mixed with the soil, the more 
easily arc they assimilated. 

nature's manner op fertilization. 

663. It is contended by many theorists that nature applies 
all manure on the surface of the soil, without being covered ; and 
consequently that must be the better way to apply manure, as 
rMture never makes any mistakes or docs things wrong. If 
nature were to drive a vast system of huge plows over our hills 
and dales and through our dense forests, turning furrow slices 
two or three hundred feet wide and a hundred or more feet deep 
for the purpose of burying all vegetable matter, would not these 
very abettors of such a theory conclude that manure should be 
buried in the soil ? As the fertilizing substances must be taken 
up by the roots of plants, common sense would seem to argue 
that manure should bo slightly covered with earth, so that the fer- 
tilizing substances may be carried downwards by the rains, where 
they can be taken up by tho roots of plants. Every good farmer 
knows that when manure is buried in the bottom of deep furrows, 
when Indian corn is to be pbnted, the corn grows slowly until 
the roots have reached the bottom of the furrows where t!ie 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 325 

manure is deposited. There is no very great objection to spread- 
ing manure on the surface in late autumn ; for the damp 
weather and rains will leach most of the fertilizing substances 
into the soil. But even then, the effect would be far greater, 
and much more lasting, could the manure be covered with a thin 
stratum of earth. Nature does not plow and sow, nor reap and 
mow; because there is no necessity for it. But nature J<ye5 prac- 
tise fertihzation on a grand scale, all over the country ; and the 
TTwdus ojptrandi is worthy of the highest regard of those farmers 
who apply their manure in the spring as a top-dressing. Nature 
never applies her fertilizing material in the spring, except as it is 
brought down by April showers. Nature spreads the leaves of 
trees and all other vegetable matter in autumn. And although 
it is not plowed under, the decaying vegetable matter is carried 
into the soil by rains as fast as it is washed out of the organized 
bodies that have retained it during the hot weather. Were the 
leaves of trees and other decaying vegetable matter spread out 
in the spring, the hot weather and drying winds would carry 
away a large proportion of the fertilizing matter. But '' nature " 
does not spread her fertilizing vegetable matter till autumn, when 
every thing is tending into the earth. 

BOUSSINGAULT'S ANALYSIS OF MANURE. 

664. According to the analysis of manures by Messrs. Payne 
AND BoussiNGAULT, barn-yard manure of all kinds contains more 
water than any thing else. Thus 100 lbs. of solid cow dung con- 
tains 86 lbs. of water. 100 lbs. of cow's urine contains 88 lbs. 
of water. 100 lbs. of horse dung contains 15.4 lbs. of water. 
Urine of horses contains 79 lbs. of water. Pig dung, 100 lbs., 
contains 81.4 lbs. of water. Sheep dung, 63 lbs. of water in 100 
lbs. They compute 125 lbs. of solid cow dung to be equal to 
a 100 lbs. of farm yard manure, and equal to 73 lbs. of horse 
dung. 15 lbs. of horse urine is equal to 125 lbs. of cow dung, or 
91 lbs. of cow urine. From these figures, the young farmer will 
discover how important it is to save the liquid manure of the 
gtables. 08 lbs. of dung water, as it flows from the manure yard, 



32G 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



is equal to 100 lbs. of farm yard manure in its wet state. 1G7 
lbs. of wet wheat straw, or G50 lbs. of dry wheat straw, is equal 
to 100 lbs. of farm yard manure. 83 lbs. of wet buckwheat 
sti-aw, or 361 lbs. of dry, is equal to 100 lbs, of dry farm yard 
manure. Wheat chaff" is much more valuable for manure than 
wlieat straw. T i lbs. of oak saw dust, dried in the air, is equal 
to 235 lbs. of wet wheat straw. Some kinds of saw dust is more 
valuable than oak saw dust. G8 lbs. of cider-apple refuse, dried 
in air, is equal to 100 lbs. of wet farm yard manure [this is doubt- 
ful.] Such manure is excellent when mingled with the soil 
around fruit trees. ]3J lbs. of liquid blood is equivalent to 650 
lbs. of dry wheat straw. 6 J lbs. of good bones, not heated, arc 
equivalent to 109 lbs. of wet farm yard manure. If these figures 
approximate only to one half of this computed value, all such 
substances are worth saving for manure. 



HOW TO PITCn MANURE EASILY. 

GGo. As pitching manure is laborious work, it is important 
to render the labor as easy as possible by the exercise of skill in 
handlmg the fork or shovel. The accompanying illustration of 

a laborer pitching ma- 
nure with a long-handled 
fork, will illustrate the 
manner of performing 
easily with skill what is 
usually done by main 
strength. To pitch easi- 
ly, thrust the fork into 
the manure, and make a 
fulcrum of one knee for 
the handle to rest on. 
Then a thrust downward 
with the right arm will 
detach the forkful from 
the mass of manure, and 
gh, by the expenditure of littlo 




PIXCIITNG MAXUKE. 



elevate it from one to two feet 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 327 

muscular force. By using a fork like a lever, as here represented, 
a man can pitch larger forkfuls, and more of them, with far less 
fatigue than he can without resting the handle across his knee. 
When manure is pitched with a short-handled fork, the force re- 
quired to separate the forkfuls from the mass, as well as for lifting 
it on the cart, must be applied by the muscles alone. This often 
renders it fatiguing and back-aching labor. Moreover, when a man 
pitches with a short-handled fork, he applies his force at a very 
great disadvantage, as he is required not only to lift the entire 
forkful with one hand, but to thrust downward with the other 
one sufficiently hard to balance the force expended in detaching 
and elevating the forkful of manure. Consequently the arm 
nearest the manure must expend muscular force sufficient to raise 
the weight, say, of two forkfuls. This principle is quite as applic- 
able in using the shovel as the fork. By resting the long handle 
across one knee when shoveling, keeping the arms stiff, the body 
erect and straight, a slight thrust of the body and knee will 
force the shovel into the earth with the expenditure of little 
force. These suggestion?, and the illustration, will enable any 
one to expend his muscular force to the best possible advantage 
in using both manure-forks and shovels. (Sec How to Handle 
Shovels, Vol. I., p. 244.) 

rORKLNG BARN-YARD MANURE OVER. 

CGG. This is essential to rotting well. When corn-stalks, 
straw and ordure of animals are all trod down firmly during the 
winter and spring, the air is effectually excluded ; and the mate- 
rial will not rot until it has been forked over, were it to remain 
there for a year or more. If it is loosened up, so that the air 
can circulate among it, the entire mass will decay in a few weeks, 
so that it will be easy to pitch and spread it. 

66T. Now, the most expeditious way of pitching manure up 
clean from the bottom is, to do the greater proportion of it with 
a strong horse-fork. Set up three long poles, as for pitching 
hay on a round stack, and make a hole down to the bottom of 
the manure first ; then thrust the tines of the horse-fork under 



328 THE YOUNG FARMER''S MANUAL. 

the manure, and turn it up in large rolls, and tear it to pieces 
with hand forks. Horse forks are of great service where the 
manure is very long. After it has rotted, a man, or two men 
can pitch mucli faster by hand. If barn-yard manure remains in 
the yard all summer, it should always be forked over to facilitate 
the decay of corn-stalks and coarse straw. But it should be 
protected. Some farmers pitch long manure on the wagon with 
horse-forks ; but I never could perceive that the practice would 
pay ; because a horse-fork will not hold as much as a horse is 
capable of elevating. It is easy for any one to try the experi- 
ment, which will soon satisfy all anticipations or doubts on this 
sabj cct. 

DISTRIBUTING MANURE IX THE FIELD. 

G68. Some farmers dump a whole load in a place, with the 
heaps two or more rods apart. S uch a distribution of manure 
makes double work in spreading it, when it is spread as it should 
be. (See Spreading, par. 669.) My practice always was to make 
calculations first, how large a surface my manure will cover of 
a given depth. After one ro\V of heaps is distributed about 
eight feet from one side of a field, drop the rows just five paces 
apart, and the heaps but a few feet apart in th3 rows. It is far 
better to make many small heaps than a few large ones ; be- 
cause the manure will be more evenly distributed, aixl will re- 
quire much less time to spread it. The rows of heap^ should 
never be placed more than one rod apart. There arc just 160 
square rods in one acre. Therefore it is easy to calculate how 
many loads to apply to every acre. When coarse manure is hauled 
to a field in autumn, or during the winter, and is not to be plowed 
in until the next spring, the heaps should b3 made of a conical 
or pyramidal shape, so that less surface will be exposed to the 
rain and snow. The practice of hauling manure on a field , and 
allowing it to remain in broad heaps, bleaching for six months, 
as thousands of farmers do, who would lose their equanimity if 
told that such a practice is not in keeping with successful and 
thrifty farmers, deserves the severest denunciation. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 829 

SPREADING MANURE. 

" He lightly shakes it, Avith an agile hand. 
From tho full fork, the saturated straw." Cowper. 

669. Most laborers make very slow progress at sprcadin.p: 
manure; and handle their forks most stupidly awkward. A fork 
with a short handle like a spade is better for spreading manure 
than one with a long handle. As a forkful is thrown, the fork 
should be skilfully shook, in order to separate the manure as fine 
as possible as it leaves the fork. When a laborer pitches the 
manure from the heaps, and then goes and knocks the forkfuls to 
pieces, more time will be consumed in spreading it than most 
farmers are willing to devote to so small a job. Whether manure 
is applied very bountifully or rather sparingly, the young farmer 
should see that it is spread very evenly over the whole ground, 
and not left in large bunches, nor twice as thick as it should be, 
where the heaps were made. If the manure is fine, the proprie- 
tor should see that a laborer uses a shovel to remove t^he fine 
manure at the bottom of the heaps. Disinterested laborers will 
often leave so much manure where the heaps were made, that the 
crops will grow so large at these spots as to fall down and not 
mature well, because there was too much manure ; while not ten 
f^et distant the soil was so poor that the crops are barely vrorth 
harvesting. See that every square foot of ground has a uniform 
sprinkhng. If the manure has lain in heaps for a long time, re- 
move the entire heaps, as enough will have been carried down 
by the rain to fertilize the soil where the heaps have lain. When 
manure is to be plowed in, spread it no faster than the ground is 
plowed, as much of it will waste by evaporation. 

670. A good farmer penned the following thoughts for the 
Country Gentleman : " The man that spreads it must have brains, 
as there will be some portions of the field that need more than 
others to make the meadow even. He should stand on the load 
while spreading, as he can see much better from that position 
v.here and hov.' to spread the manure ; and besides he can spread 
it faster in this way than when it is unloaded in piles about the 



330 THE YOUNG FARMEU'a MANUAL. 

field. I never permit a man to unload in piles for tlio purpose 
of making haste for dinner, rain or night. He may uahitcli from 
bis wagon to make haste for anything, but manure is too precious 
for top-dressing to be piled up in the field. No man can apply 
it to grass as it should be, after it is unloaded in piles, for the rea- 
son that all that is loft in the pile must be spread ; and if not 
sufficient, must answer ; and still worse, the fine which would bo 
left in the bottom of the wagon is pulled off into the i)ile, instead 
of being taken as it should be to some portion of the field where 
strawberries, moss, or some other pernicious things are trying to 
run the grass out ; which latter course is as much preferaljle to 
harrowing and scarifying the meadow as it would be to feed the 
proper food to stunted, scurvy cattle whose hides have grown 
fast to their bones from starvation, instead of scarifying their 
hides to give them a start. I never saw a skillful top-dresscr 
whose meadows ' run out ;' and I never saw a man, or one t!iat 
had ever seen one of that class of farmers, whose sheep had ' run 
out' or deteriorated in his hands. 

After the manure has been spread from the wagon, it should 
be spread over again after a rain. Eight tons to the acre are not 
sufficient to cover the whole surface ; but the manure can bo spread 
much more nicely when wet than when dry. There arc two ob- 
jections, however, to drawing when wet. One is, the manure is 
then much heavier to handle ; and the other, which is by far the 
greatest, is, that it cuts up and injures some soils almost as much 
as the manure does good. The second spreading should be made 
to touch every place which was not reached the first time, even if 
some places have to be slightly uncovered to do it, as the rain will 
have washed out enough to give all the plants a taste, where it 
lay in the first place. It is better to spread small quantities of 
manure often over the surface of the whole farm than to put 
lai-gc quantities on some places, letting other portions go without 
any, except for a few crops, which require quick rich soils before 
the farmer has time to enrich his soil sufficiently by the slower 
process. This I know is against the teachings of Licbig and AV\ay, 
as well as most of the agricultural writers of ancient and modern 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 33l 

times. But I have the practical experience of our own country 
to sustain me, which after all is the surest teacher." 

EXPERIMENT WITH PROTECTED AND UNPROTECTED MANLRE. 

6T1. Lord Kinnaird instituted the following experiments to 
show the difference in value of protected and unprotected 
manure ; and the difference in the result would have erected suit- 
able sheds for protecting much more manure than was used in the 
experiment. A field of 20 acres, of very equal quality, being a 
rich loam, naturally dry and in good heart, was selected for the 
experiment, and divided into two equal portions. The manure 
was applisd at the rate of 20 cart-loads per acre. The whole 
field was planted with potatoes ; the seed all of one kind. All 
showed no difference in growth till the first week of July, 
when a decided superiority began to manifest itself in the half of 
the field manured out of the covered yards. The vines on the 
portions of the field manured from the exposed yards began to 
decay by tho latter end of July, while the other portion of the 
field still retained its strong dark green. The crops were taken 
up on the 1st to 4th of October, and after careful measurement 
and weighing of two separate portions in each division the result 
was as follows : — 

With Uncovered Manure. 

tonf. cwts. lbs. 

tst measurement — 1 acre produced 7 G 8 of potatoes. 
2d plot Ido do 7 18 99 do 

With Covered Manure. 

tons cwfs. lbs. 

Isfc measurement — I acre produced 11 17 56 of potatoes. 
2d plot 1 do do 11 12 26 do 

As soon as possible after the potatoes were harvested, the field 
was cleaned, plowed, and w^heat drilled in, at the rate of 3 bush- 
els per acre. As soon as the weather was suitable in the spring, 
the whole field got a dressing of 3 cwt. of Peruvian guano to the 
acre. During the winter very little difference was apparent ; but 
shortly after the application of the guano, the wheat on that 



332 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

portion manured by the covered dung took a decided lead, which 
it retained all summer. The whole field was cut on the 26th of 
August, 1852 ; the portion manured by the uncovered dung being 
at least four days earlier than the other. As before, the two 
separate jjortions in each half of the field were measured, cut and 
stroked separately. On the 4th of Septcn:b r, each portion was 
thrashed, the grain carefully measured, and the straw weighed. 
On account of a wet season, the grain was of lighter weight than 
usual The result of the experiment was as follows : — 







fFith Uncovered Manure, 




Produce in ( 


Irain. 


Weight per Bush. 


Produce in Straw. 


acre. bush. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


i tones, lbs. 


1st 41 


19 


m 


152 of 22 


2d 42 


38 


do 
mth Covered Manure^ 


160 do 


1st 55 


5 


61 


220 of 22 


2a 53 


47 


61 


210 do 



These and similar experiments have satisfied Lord Kinnaird of 
the advantages to be derived from having farm-yard manures put 
under cover. They seem so conclusive and instructive on this 
point as to deserve to be brought before the farming classes of 
this country. It will require but a few minutes to determine the 
probable profits of protecting any certain amount of yard-manure. 
It appears from the above results that Lord Kinnaird got about 
125 bushels of wheat more, from the 10 acres manured with 
covensd dung, than from the 10 acres which had been manured 
with the uncovered. 

MANURING DISTANT FIELDS WITH BARN-YARO MANURE. 

G72. Fields that arc at a considerable distance from the barn 
are liable to be cultivated without receiving as much manure as 
those near the barn ; because it is attended with so much ex- 
pense to haul coarse manure a great distance, when the ground 
is soft. And sometimes it seems utterly impracticable to haul out 
any manur;j for a spring crop, on account of wet weather and 
wet ground. It injures most soils to drive over them very much 



THE YOUNG FAR^IEr's MANUAL. 333 

with teams and loaded vehicles when they arc so saturated with 
water that the aninjals sink several inches deep ; and clayey soils 
do not recover from such tramping and poaching in one season, 
unless tliey have been plowed in the fall and exposed to the rains 
and frosts of winter. Therefore a farmer must calculate to haul 
coarse manure to distant fields when the ground is hard, or in 
the winter on a sleigh, and put it in conical heaps ; or to spread 
it as he draws it out ; or to use guano, or some other manure, 
less bulky ; or to plow under clover or Indian corn. If distant 
fields have an abundance of vegetable matter in the soil, it will be 
more advisable to apply guano, poudrette, dried blood, bone 
dust, &c., or some of each kind if they are not too expensive. 
When the soil is rather destitute of vegetable matter, however, 
before a farmer expends his cash for manure of any kind, unless 
it can be obtained at a very reasonable price, he should plow un- 
der clover or Indian corn. Some farmers contend that clover 
plowed under is the cheapest manure that can be made. It is a 
great fertilizer ; but I believe that a soil can be renovated sooner, 
and at a less expense, with Indian corn than ^\ith clover ; be- 
cause a much larger quantity is turned under yearly of corn 
than of clover. By being expeditious in business when a crop 
of wheat, oats, or barley is taken off early in July, as they are 
many times, if the soil is plowed immediately and Indian corn 
sowed, it will grow large enough in ordinary seasons, before the 
autumnal frosts, to plow under. But when clover is raised, no 
other crop can be grown the same season. 

GUANO— WHAT IT IS. 

673. Guano has always been called the excrementitious mat- 
ter of birds living in the islands of the sea and subsisting on 
fish. As there is seldom any rain on those islands to wash away 
the fecal matter, it has been accumulating for ages after ages, un- 
til it is of unknown depth in some places. The moisture in that 
just dropped so^on disappears ; and the whole shortly becomes a 
dry ina^^s, not unhke dry hen manure. Vessels go to these islands 
on purpose for a load of guano. It is shoveled into wheel- 



334 THE YOUNG FARMEll's MANUAL. 

barrows and wheeled on board of ships ; and thus becomes a very 
valuable commercial manure, when it is not adulterated by dealers. 

674. The following brief account will be read with interest: 
"It is now 22 or 23 years since the first crop of guano was im- 
ported from tiie Chiucha Islands, on the coast of Peru. These 
islands comprise three rocks, the joint area of which is under 3,000 
statute acres ; and the quantity of guano still upon the rocks is 
commonly estimated at 15 millions of tons, valued at more than 
100 miUions of money. The account of these islands is totally 
diflfcrent from any I have ever yet seen published ; for instead of 
the guano being exhausted in eight or ten years, which most 
writers assert, the supply, comparatively speaking, is inexhaustible; 
the beds of guano being in many places more than 100 feet thick, 
and two of the three priucipal islands being yet untouched. On 
climbing the cliffs an innumerable quantity of skeletons of large 
marine animals were presented to view, sucli as those of the seal 
and walrus, or sea-horse, striking up out of the surface in such 
quantities that the place appeared to be completely white all over. 
Passing along over the island we could scarcely take a step with- 
out our feet breaking throujh into a hole in which the guano bird 
makes its nest. These holes extend 5 or 6 yards into the bed of 
the guano ; and the birds are continually occupied in fetching 
fish from the sea to feed their young ones. The number is so im- 
mense that the air seems completely alive with them. By this 
account it seems that guano is not all cxcrementitious matter, as 
we have hitherto been led to suppose ; but consists of a consider- 
able amount of decomposed animal matter in addition to the ex- 
crement of birds. It is evident from this sketch, that the supply 
of guano will be, at present, by no means limited." 

MANNEn OF APPLYING GUANO. 

675. Guano is a fertilizer of great strength ; and if allowed 
to come in close contact with the tender roots and germs of young 
plants, they camiot grow much better than they would in embers. 
The true way to apply it is, to sprinkle a handful over an area of 
at least eighteen inches in diameter, where the hills are to stand j 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 335 

and after spreading on a thin stratum of dirt over the guano, drop 
the seed and cover it with mellow soil. By spreading the guano 
over such a large area, it will not injure the roots of young 
plants ; and they will absorb the fertilizing matter that is dis- 
solved by the rain more readily. When guano is correctly ai> 
plied, there is no more danger in using it than there is in apply- 
ing gypsum or lime. It is decidedly wrong to simply throw it 
down in a heap, thinking that it will promote the growth 
of a hill of corn when it is confined to such a limited area of 
ground, Tiie roots of Indian corn often spread two feet on each 
side of the hill. Now, if a handful of fertilizer be spread on an 
area of six inches in diameter, are we to suppose that the limited 
amount of roots in that space will take up a large proportion of 
the available nourishment ? Nothing is more palpably absurd. 

676. The improper manner in which guano has frequently 
been applied to Indian corn and some other crops, has brought it 
into great disrepute as a fertilizer. Indeed, such have been its 
injurious effects on Indian corn, that it is no uncommon thing to 
hear it denounced as a very dangerous manure. And I must 
confess, considering the manner in which it has been applied, it is 
not at all strange that it should have worked such injury. But 
let it be applied as directed, and its good effects will be really 
surprising, if the guano has not been adulterated. If more than 
a small handful be applied to a hill, cover the seed about half 
deep enough ; then sprinkle the guano over an area as large as 
above directed, with the seed near the centre, and cover it light- 
ly. As much of the fertilizing matter in the guano is some- 
what volatile, it should be covered with a thin stratum of earth 
as soon as applied to the hills. A thin stratum will absorb all the 
volatile matter, as well as if it w^ere an inch or more deep, and 
the rain will carry it down to the roots. It is important to apply 
it so thin that the roots may spread laterally in every direction in 
the soil, and not be enveloped in guano so thickly that they 
cannot enter mellow earth without passing through the stim- 
ulatiup: fertilizer. 



336 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

APPLYING GUANO IN A LIQUID STATE- 

677. The best and safest way of applying guano, or any 
other manure, in which there is such a great abundance of soluble 
fertilizing matter, is to put a few pounds iu a large tub o;- bar- 
rel filled with water, where it can hi allowed to soak for several 
days. During the time it should be stirred up occasionally. This 
liquid can be applied with a cup or dipper, sprinkling about one 
pint to a hill. Or it may be sprinkled around hills of corn, or 
anything else, with a water pot. It must not bo applied to the 
leaves. 

678. The great, practical question which every farmer desires 
to have answered is, will it pay to purchase guano, at sixty 
dollars per ton — the present price ? It certainly will not, if guano 
is adulterated as some other commercial matures are. (Read par. 
621.) As pure guano contains such a large quantity of plant- 
forming and grain-producing material, a few hundred pounds will 
manure a large breadth of ground. Four or five hundred pounds 
of unadulterated guano per acre will produce as good crops as 
twenty-five loads of ordinary barn-yard manure. When it has 
been greatly adulterated, four or five tons are needed. Every far- 
mer can compute tho cost of purchasing and applying five hundred 
pounds of guano to an acre of Indian corn, |)otatoes, or wheat. 
Good guano is an excellent manure for wheat, as it contains a 
large proportion of nitrogenous matter. It may be sowed broad- 
cast with a machine or by hand, and harrowed in with the grain 
after the ground has been harrowed once to render it smooth. 
When the price of guano is not more than thirty dollars per ton, 
if a farmer has only a limited supply of barn-yard manure, it would, 
no doubt, pay to apply four or five hundred pounds to an acre, 
especially to fields at a long distance from the manure yard. It 
is difficult to determine when guano is adulterated. But growing 
crops cannot be deceived. If there arc lumps, the whole should 
be reduced to a fine powder before it is sowed. 

HEN MANURE AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 

679. The value of hen, goose, duck and turkey droppings is 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 337 

usually overlooked by most farmers. A very few understand that 
such fecal matter is often equal to the best Peruvian gun no. 
Such men save and apply it to their soil. Otliers allow their 
fowls to rcost on trees, fences, or any otlier places, where their 
droppings are wasted. Every farmer who keeps fowls should 
provide good places for them to roost. Then remove all coarse 
rubbish, and keep the floor beneath the roosts well littered with 
fine muck. This will mingle with half-fluid dropping.-:, and render 
the mass less ofi'ensive to handle. Fine sawdust will increase its 
bulk and absorb ammonia. The very fact that hen manure when 
first dropped is so offensive shows that it is very valuable as a 
fertilizer. 

680. In order to prepare it for use, spread it on a thin layer 
of muck on a barn floor : and then, with flails, or by running it 
through a threshing machine, reduce it to a flue condition. It 
may now be sowed broad-cast, or applied by hand to crops in drills 
or hills. I have known good farmers to practice this method, and 
havo done it myself, with good results. The manure was applied 
to Indian corn at the time of planting. A good farmer writes : 
** I have a field of corn which grew very slowly, and the prospect 
for a crop was very discouraging. A neighbor offered me the 
droppings of his hen roost. His offer was gladly accepted ; and 
two large wagon loads of manure was the result. This was 
liberally applied — a handful to a hill — as far as it would go. Two 
weeks after this application there was a great difference between 
the manured and uumauured portion ; the manured part was much 
larger than the yellow, sick-looking, uumanured portion. At 
length many good farmers expressed great wonder at the vast 
difference between the two portions. The part manured yielded 
three times as much as the unmanured per acre, and of much 
superior quality." 

MANURIAL VALUE OF DEAD ANIMALS. 

681. Domestic animals will sicken and die sometimes even 
when they have the best of care. We always expect to make 
beef of old oxen and cows. Therefore we do not calculate on any 

15 



o38 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

inainire from their flesh. Bat, old horses must die. Younq; ones 
are not exempt from death. Marcs, valuable cows, sows and ewes 
often die when in good condition. Their flesh is a nuisance if left 
nuburied Some contend that a horse or cow is worth twenty- 
dollars for manure. This is cxccedhigly doubtful. Still, such 
animals are worth saving, by working their flesh into compost;al- 
lowing the horse to weigh 1,000 [)ouu:ls, and the muck and labor to 
be worth ten dollars, this would make the carcass worth ten 
dollars, at one cent a pound. It might not be advisable for a far- 
mer to buy carcasses at this rate, while it would pay largely to 
save everything of the kind upon his farm or within his reach. It 
is not necessary to attain results entirely accurate to show the 
economy of saving all these wastes. The muck heap and com- 
posted, dead animals are a source of profit, and pay largely for the 
labor. We want the crows to prey on grubs and insects, and not 
on dead animals. We can put these to a better use. Every 
pound of flesh, rightly used, gives a peck of potatoes. Let them 
be saved. Place three or four loads of sods or muck in a con- 
venient out-of-the-way place, yet within sight, so that dogs can 
bo watched ; and if they manifest too great a regard for the old 
horse, a well-directed bullet may introduce them to a still closer 
companionship. Then the horse is taken upon the heap, killed, 
and the skin removed, which more than pays for the job. With- 
out further ceremony, five or six cart-loads of muck and soil are 
thrown over the carcass, and it is left six months or a year, accord- 
ing to the season, a certain amount of warm weather being neces- 
sary, and it not being agreeable to overhaul the heap in the heat 
of summer. Then fork it over, throwing out the bones, which 
will then be well freed from flesh ; sprinkle over the heap a peck 
or two of plaster, and add perhaps a little fresh muck or soil upon 
the surface. Let it lie a month ; then fork it over again, and it 
is fit for use, an excellent manure — worth more than an equal 
bulk of good barn-yard manure. Spread it very thin, and iiar- 
row it in. Or it may be applied to corn or potatoes in the hill. 
G82. I am acquainted with a good farmer who pays ten 
dollars each for all the old horses he can purchase ; and composts 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S JfANUAT,. 339 

them ; and applies the material as a top-dressing for wlieat. All 
the hard bones are crushed in a bone mill. By this excellent 
system of management of returning to the soil all the flesh-form- 
ing and bone-producing material that had been picked up by 
grazing animals, his soil is kept improving ; and he makes every 
branch of farming pay well. 

PLOWING IN GREEN CROPS FOR MANURE. 

683. One of the most economical ways of improving the fer- 
tility of an impoverished soil, or of renovating a barren one, is by 
plowing under some kind of green crop. Farmers have relied 
chiefly on red clover for this purpose, and there are thousands of 
acres of soil naturally unproductive that have been brought to 
an excellent state of fertility by applying gypsum to the clover 
crop and turning it under as green manure. Indian corn, buck- 
wheat, and some other plants are employed for the same purpose, 
as are also marrowfat peas, sown thick in drills, between rows of 
early sweet corn, as soon as tho corn is cultivated and hoed tho 
last time. Then, as soon as tho ears are gathered, every thing is 
turned under by plowing crosswise of the rows. In those districts 
where Ijroom corn is raised, tho portion that remains after the 
brush has been gatlicred, is usually plowed in to enrich tho soil. 
The same thing is practiced, in some instances, by farmers on our 
Western prairies. Sometimes tall weeds take almost entire pos- 
session of a field, which, when they arc plowed in, furnish much 
vegetable matter for improving the fertility of the soil. 

684. The usual means employed for turning under such 
materials consist of a log chain or large tarred rope having one 
end attached to the outer end of the whiffletree of the ofiside 
horse, and the other end bitched around the beam of the plow, 
near the standard, as represented by the illustration herewith 
given. The chain sliould always be long enough to draw the tops 
of whatever is being plowed in along in the furrow, just in timy 
to allow the furrow slice when turning to fall en it. If the chain 
is a few inches too long, the furrow shoe will /all upon it and bo 
broken and displaced as the chain draws out. Take a " rolling 



340 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

hitch " around the beam of the plow, and tlicn adjust th.c length 
of the chain until the bight of it will remain on the turning fur- 
row slice only two or three inches forward of the point where it 




ATTACHMENT FOB TUKNING IN WEEDS. 



comes to rest. This will draw the tops of weeds, grass, Canada 
thistles, and cornstalks completely beneath the falling earth : 
whereas without such a contrivance the tops would extend above 
ground, and if not already matured, would continue to grow some- 
times quite as well as if they had not been plowed in. Sometimes 
weeds and cornstalks are first mowed close to the ground, and 
hauled into the furrows as the plowing is in progress. But in 
this practice t'.ie green material is not distributed as evenly as it is 
when plowed in without being mowed. 

G85. A piece of half-inch round iron, bent in the form of a 
letter U, is used instead of a chain for drawing under red clover 
or other crops. But as a chain is more Uexiblc than an iron bow, 
it has been found more convenient. When the plow is drawn by 
oxen, t]ie chain is attached to a stick about 20 inches long, 
bolted to the upper side of a beam, as shown by the prec(!ding 
engraving. If hitched to the forward end of the plow beam, tlie 
chain will not always run far enough to the right side of the fur- 
row to draw in the tops of all the stalks. However, if the chain 
is adjusted correctly as to length, the work can be {)erformed 
ouito satisfactorily. 



THE YOUN'G FARMER'^ MANUAL 341 

686. Coino plowmen liave considered it essential to pass a 
lieavy roller, and sometimes a harrow, over corn stalks and weed:s. 
Bat we have always found it unnecessary, as the part of the team 
that travels on the unplowed ground will always tread it down as 
fast as it is plowed in ; and they will also bend it over in the right 
direction. We have plowed in green corn stalks, the average 
height of which was eight feet over the entire field, witiiont using 
a roller or harrow to lay it down, as the nearside horse and 
whiffle trees broke it down in the most desirable manner. 

KILMERS* IMPROVED ATTACHMENT. 

687. Plowmen exp rience some difBculty in keep'ng the bight 
of the chain back in its proper place on the turning furrow slice. 
For this reason they are not able to draw every thing under 
the slices, as is desirable. To obviate this diflficully, J. & A. 
Kilmer, Barnerville, Schoharie Co., N. Y., have recently invent- 
ed and patented an improvement by which the drag chain is kept 
in the place desired. 

688. The accompanying illustration will furnish a gocd idea 
of Messrs. Kilmers' chain, passing from the main chain to the 
plow-round or handle, which can be adjusted at pleasure. The en- 
graving needs no further explanation. I saw it tested in plowing in 
weeds,and it operated in a most satisfactory manner. It is strange, 
indeed, that such a simple and good contrivance should not have 
been thought of before. The improvement can be attached to any 
plow. The device has just been secured by letters patent. 
Many old farmers have declared that they have used this con- 
trivance for 25 years. Therefore they maintain that it is 
public property. Unless it can be shown that Messrs. Kilmer were 
not the inventors, and that they had seen or heard of it, the law 
would be on the side of the inventors. The safest way is not tc 
use it ; or to pay a few dimes royalty to the patentees. 



;42 



THE YOUNG FARMERS MANUAIi. 



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THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 343 

FlSn MANURE— FISn GU.VNO. 

689. One of the means wc have of getting back from the sea 
the fertility which flows on every hill-side and meadow, from every 
country ditch and city sewer, is to use the fish for manure. The 
time will never come when so little fish food will flow into the 
sea from our rivers and harbors, that fish will not multiply pro- 
digiously aloug our coasts. Though it is true that in many parts 
of Europe, where there used to be good fishing in stre.-ms, the 
Sportsmen complain that since the farmers have taken to thorough- 
draining, an J scrupulously saving the wastes of the farm, tho good 
fish have nearly, if not quite, all disappeared. 

690. First among the fish used principally for manure in this 
country, is the alosa Tmnhaden — commonly called Bony fish. Men- 
haden White fish, Moss Bunker. From time immemorial they 
have been taken in very large quantities along oar coast, carted 
directly upon the fields, spread broadcast and plowed in, dropped 
in or on tlie hill for corn, composted in various ways, and snb- 
sequently applied in quantities of 7,000 to 15,000 to the acre. 
More recently the price of oil has made it profitable to take them 
for this product; and hundreds of factories have sprung up on the 
shore of New- Jersey, in many of the bays and inlets of the S ound, 
and further east. The fish decay very soon after coming from the 
w^ater; hence these fish-oil establishments load the breezj with 
unpleasant odors. 

691. A correspondent from SouthoLl, L. I., communicates to 
the American Agriculturist t!ie following facts on the subject of 
this industry. "Some eight or ten factories on the east end of 
Long Island work up yearly thirty and forty miUions of these fish, 
which appear in the bays of the Sound generally from May until 
October. Caught with seines, they are brought to the factories, 
and generally throv>^n in large wooden tanks, from 8,000 to 12,000, 
according to size of tanks, heated by steam, though some parties 
cook in iron cylinders. When cooked, the water is drawn off ; 
and the mass undergoes a powerful hydraulic pressure. After 
extracting all the oil possible, the residue is partly dried and run 
through a picker, a revolving cylinder with iron teeth cutting it 



344 THE YOUxVG farmer's manual. 

fine, then wheeled to a sheltered building in large heaps. Some 
years ago sulphuric acid was sprinkled over, but farmers objectinsj 
to it the practice was discontinued. Farmers speak highly of 
this fisli fertilizer. The most valuable is turned over three or 
four times to evaporate the moisture, giving the buyer the most 
of the fertilizing substance ; it is used in drills for corn, or sown 
broadcast for wheat and oats. It looks but reasonable that this fish 
fertilizer should be very similar to Peruvian guano, the latter 
being the deposit of seabirds living mostly if not entirely on fish. 
The manure contains a great deal of phosphate of lime and much 
ammonia, either ready formed or remaining in the meaty part. 

692. It is a query whether fish are turned to their greatest 
possible account as manure. It would seem that by good manage- 
ment they might be made to fertilize a large part of the barren 
sands which line the sea-shore. And what more just than that 
the sea should render back some of the fertility which has been 
washed into it from the land. Prof. Johnson happily remarks, 
" Guano is an indirect contribution of the ocean to Agriculture. 
The sea-fowl manufacture it from tho fish with which the sea is 
everywhere teeming." Analysis shows that fish abound in nitro- 
genous and phosphatic elements ; and experience shows that they 
are very useful in bringing up lands otherwise quite unfertile. 
Indeed, we have known farmers to cart them fifteen or twenty 
miles distant from tide water, and to find the labor rtmunerative. 
Yet the slovenly practice of spreading fish on the surface of land, 
or imperfectly covering it for the benefit of growing crops, is one 
to be condemned. It is wasteful, and exceedingly offensive, if 
not unhealthy, to all the region filled with the foul effluvia. We 
would advise vseaboard farmers to use all the fish they can get, in 
their own way. They can profitably be laid up with muck in 
heaps, to decay. A barrel offish composted with muck or loam 
will make a rich dressing for any crop. For Indian corn and 
potatoes, plow them in, or apply them to the hill. American 
fainiers must economize wilh reference to labor in handling 
manure. Fish will produce just as ijood an effect on a crop if 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 345 

buried in the soil, and allowed to decompose there, as the same 
amount will produce it composted. In the first instance, the soil 
holds all the fertilizing matter; in the second, it is retained in com- 
post muck. In either case, prrowing plants will find it. Still, 
where a farmer has muck, and his soil is very porous, with but 
little clay or mould in it, to retain fertilizing matter from decom- 
posed fish, it might be more economical to compost them previous 
to applying the material to the soil. 

KING-CRAB OR SPIDER. 

693. In some localities on the sea coast the Horse-foot, Kinjr- 
crab, and Sea-spider — the polijpheimts occidentalis of the naturalists 
— is common on all our Atlantic coast; ; but it seems to find a 
particularly congenial location in the lower part of the Delaware 
Bay. It comes to the shore to deposit its eggs in the sand in the 
early part of summer ; the largest number, it is said, in the old 
of the moon in June, though they are abundant for several weeks 
before and after that time. They come in such numbers that the 
beach is literally covered with them for nearly forty miles up the 
bay-shore, from Town Bank, in Cape May County. They weigh, 
on the average, about four pounds each ; and at a very moderate 
calculation, a million of them could be picked up on a mile of 
beach in one season. They are used in great numbers as feed for 
hogs ; and their eggs are shovelled up in wagon-loads and car- 
ried off to feed chickens. Many of the Cape May farmers have 
thrown them up in piles and composted them with earth, as a 
manure for wheat ; and the etfects they produce are remarkable. 
The poorest soils that can be found, by a dressing of from 2,000 
to 4,000 on an acre, it is said, will produce twenty or twenty-five 
bushels of wheat ; and thirty bushels is not an uncommon crop. 
This testimony in regard to their fertilizing action is confirmed 
by the experience of a number of farmers of whom I have inquired; 
and yet there is a singular prejudice against them. It is said that 
corn or clover will not thrive on the soil where they have been 
used ; and that they bring on sorrel. This latter fact has l)een 
mentioned by several ; but I am inclined to think it a difliculty 



340 THE YOUNG FAKMEU's MANUAL. 

of bnt little moment. Indeed, I can perceive no reason at all for 
such effects following the application of such fertilizers. And I 
do not believe it. I believe the more of such material one can 
apply to his soil the better. 

HORN PITHS— now TO USE THEM. 

694. In many places, horn-piths can be had at the tanneries 
by cartloads ; and in those sections of the country where there 
are no mills for crushing bones, they are not considered of much 
value. But, " pound for pound," they are worth as much as largo 
solid bones ; because the piths, from their more open, porous 
structure, decompose much sooner in the soil than the more flinty 
solid bonas of animals ; and consequently are more readily avail- 
able as a manure. We kaow a farmer who has uF;ed several 
cartloads of horn^piths the two past seasons for manuring his 
potatoes i:i the hill — a pith in each hill at the time of planting — ■ 
more than d()ii1)ling the crop over those rows having no manure. 
As the potatoes are dug, the piihs are thrown into heaps, and 
afterwards carted off and deposited in a safe place for the next 
year's use. Tlicy will last f6r this purpose many years. The 
farmer pays about one dollar and lifty cents a cartload. lie 
also occasionally obtains from tlie same yard the lime, after 
having being used for starting the hair on the hides and skins, 
as well also as some of the fleshings and poor quality of hair. 
These are made into compost by mixing with loam or rauck ; and 
make a good and lasting manure ; and at a much cheaper rate 
than he could procure stable manure. Horn-piths may be ground 
as bones are, and applied in the same way. 

WAST.T OP WOOLEN MILLS. 

695. Tlie waste wool from woolen factories and carding ma- 
cliines can be some times had at a trifling cost. Wool and 
woolen rags contain a large per cent, of nitrogen, and al)ont five 
p(;r cent, of sulphur. One hundred pounds of wool contain about 
seventeen pounds of nitrogen — as much as there is in the very 
best guano, and more than there is in thirty hundred pounds of 



THE YCUXG farmer's MANUAL. 347 

fresli cow dung. Wool and woolen rap:s decompose very slowly 
in wet, stiff soils. Therefore, if used in their natural state, they 
should be spread upon sandy, or light, warm, loamy land, and 
plowed in. On such land they are vLiluabloand lasting manures. 
Great quantities of waste wool and woolen rags are used to ma 
nure the hop grounds in England ; and the liop-growers there 
readily pay from twenty five to fifty dollars per ton for them as 
manure for tlieir hop grounds. From the slow decay of wool and 
rap-s, they probably can be most economica;ly employed when 
previously rotted, by being made into a compost, and then ai> 
plied to the wlieat crop. I am not prepared to say exactly what 
our firmers could afford to pay per pound or ton for waste 
wool and rags. As far as nitrogen is valuable in guano or other 
manure, wool is one of tlie most valuable ; and the farmer per- 
haps would not be running a great risk in paying one cent, per 
pound for waste woolen rags. 

696. I am acquainted with a large farmer who purchases 
thousands of bushels of such material at fifty cents per load of 
about fifty bushels, and hauls it over two miles. It is usually 
spread in his stables and yards, where it becomes thoroughly 
mingled witii barn-yard and stable manure. It produces large 
crops of wheat, or any other grain. 

HOW TO USE LEATHER SCRAP. 

697. They make an excellent road and sidewalks about the 
village ; and after they are well trodden down and have been 
rained on a few times, they make a soft, dry, clastic walk , free 
from dust and mud. Then, too, they make excellent fuel, provid- 
ed there is a strong draft in the chimney. These are common 
ways of disposing of this article. As fuel, its worth is estimated by 
some shoemakers and leatherworkers as nearly or quite equal to an- 
thracite coal, ton for ton. The only trouble is it decomposes very 
slowly. Dry skhis, before they are tanned, contain about eighteen 
per cent, of nitrogen, which, if it could be made available to plants 
in the form of ammonia (which is not difficult), would make the 
value of raw hide scraps about twenty dollars per ton. In the 



348 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

process of tanning, many changes take place in the hide. Some 
h*mc becomes incorporated with it, and a large amount of tanning 
is absorbed. 

698. The editor of the GcTiesee Farmer writes : " The 
largest crop of potatoes we ever saw raised was upon land which 
had received a liberal dressing of old, well rotted manure belong- 
ing to a saddler who kept a horse and cow, and who was in the 
habit of throwing all his old scraps of leather on the manure heap; 
and proceeds to quote from a correspondent, who says that he 
offered the boys in his town twenty- five cents a cwt. for all the old 
shoes they could collect. " He procured in this way several 
hundred pounds, roasted them in an oven heated to double the 
heat required to bake bread ; and they became sufficiently brittle 
to be readily ground in a bone mill. The leather dust was put 
on potatoes in the row, along side of bone-dust ; and the differ- 
ence wos in favor of the leather manure, it being mncli finer, and 
consequently having more immediate effect ; the usefulness of 
bones, however, was also distinctly seen from a distance. On 
each side a liberal supply of barn-yard manure was used ; but the 
difference was very plainly shown m favor of the former two fer- 
tilizers. The ground was put in with wheat after the potato 
crop was taken up ; and now no difference can be seen between 
the leather and bone manure ; but a very marked difference, at a 
distance, where those fertilizers and the barn-yard manure were 
applied — the former leaving a dark green streak through the field, 
with tall and well-stocked grain. 

699. The most econom.ical way for farmers to dispose of 
leather scraps and hide shavings is to haul t!iem directly to the 
field and harrow or plow them in. This saves labor ; and grow- 
ing crops will find the nourishment afforded by such substanccp,. 
Perhaps three or four years after they have been spread on a field, 
the good effects will appear. Let such material bo applied to any 
kind of soil ; and spread very thin. They are more valuable ou 
heavy than on light soils. 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MAXUAL. 349 



VALUE AND USE OP CHARCOAL. 



100. The virtue of charcoal mainly consists in its absorbing 
power. The purity of the air around a charcoal pit has long 
been known ; and the collieis notwithstanding their smutty ap- 
pearance, are robust men. The secret of this purity of the air and 
the health of the colliers lies in the fact that charcoal absorbs 
from the air the ammonia and other noxious gases unsuited for 
our lungs, but just the food for plants. Every good housekeeper 
knows that if her boiling meat gives forth an unsavory odor, a 
piece of fresh charcoal put into the pot will not only sweeten the 
air, but will remedy the taint of the meat. In the same manner 
it acts when applied to the land. It absorbs from the air those 
gases offensive to our nostrils, but the main food of plants. 
Where an old coal-pit has been burned, the land never seems to 
wear out ; and the first settlers point to the coal bottoms that are 
fifty years old, still by their exuberant vegetation marking well 
the spot where the wood was converted into coal. A fertilizer so 
lasting is well worth some expense at the outset. But where can 
wo get it, some may ask. If any charcoal pits are burned in your 
vicinity, the bottoms will furnish three or four loads of refuse 
charcoal mingled with burnt soil. The latter is highly valued 
also as an absorbent. Around furnaces and blacksmith shops 
the waste charcoal also accumulates, and in many instances may 
be had for the carting. It may be found also around engine 
houses, thrown out from locomotives. If none of these resources 
are at hand, then use the best substitute possible, which is muck 
or swamp mud ; and double the manure heap by composting; and 
if the crops are not doubled, then my experienc3 is vain. 

701. A correspondent writes : "For two years past I have 
used some fifty loads each season of refuse charcoal, and being 
fully convinced that it pays, I wish to recommend it to my brotlicr 
farmers. I have tried it on grass, corn and jiotatoes — have 
tried it alone, and in the compost heap, and in all situations it has 
proved faithful to its trust. As a top-dressing for grass, it gives 
a green color and luxuriant growth. Applied to half an acre of 



3"0 THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

onrly iiotatoes the last summer, the yield was seventy-five l)ii,slie!a 
of as fine healthy potatoes as could be desired, that sold I'cadily 
for one dollar per bushel, aud yielded the best profit of anything 
raised on the farm." 

702. Finely pulverized charcoal is an excellent fertilizer for 
grass, grain, vegetables and fruit trees. If it is coarse, it will pay 
to run it through a corn mill, to reduce it as fine as possible. 
Let it be sowed or spread on land, the more abundant the better. 
Charcoal dust ought not to be mixed with manure, in the hog-pen, 
in the privy or anywhere. If the substance be mixed first with 
charcoal, and then covered with soil or muck, little loss will take 
place, and the coal will be a real benefit. Mechanically and chemi- 
cally, charcoal is often of great benefit to the soil. 

BITTERNS— REFUSE OP SALT WATER. 

103. Chemists inform us that the hittcrns, as they are called, 
v/hich constitute ihe sediment taken from the boiling brine, consist 
essentially of plaster. The scale whicli forms in the kettles, called 
Uoddng, and which is taken out when they are cooled down, is a 
mixture of plaster and salt, varying in the proportions of the in- 
gredients with the thickness of the scale — the thickest being 
nearly all salt, and the thinnest containing forty or fifty per cent, 
of plaster. The sediment taken from the lime-rooms, in the solar 
fields, is plaster. Tue most valuable manure about the salt works 
is the wood ashes. There 5:re perhaps 200,000 cords of wood 
consumed annually in making salt atSahna, Syracuse, Liverpool, 
and Geddes. These ashes usually liave some salt mixed with 
them, which spoils them for making potashes, but does not 
diminish their value for manure. They are perquisites of 
the salt-boilers, and are sold at a nominal price. Some farmers 
think them valuable as a fertilizer. Others esteem them worth- 
less. The true way to use them is to try an experiment with 
them on a small scale. This will satisfy any one as to their 
value. 

VALUE OF SAWDUST— HOW USED. 

704. In some parts of the country, immense quantities of saw- 
dust, turning and planing shavings, may be collected in warm 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 351 

weather for littering stables. When dry, it will absorb and re- 
tain much liquid manure ; and as soon as it is plowed under or 
spread on the surface it decays quickly, and the roots of plants 
take care of the fertilizing material contained in it. I have known 
farmers haul saw dust and planing-mill shaving two miles, to be 
ujed as absorbents in the stable ; and the manure thus made pro- 
duced excellent results. H. Lewis, of Frankfort, N. Y., stated 
that " he had twenty-five acres of meadow that would yield an- 
nually a quantity of hay sufiQcient for the winter keep of fifty head 
of cattle. Some of his grass had already lodged early iu the 
season, and he thought would not come up again. He should 
commence his hay harvest in about three weeks. Tliis extraordi- 
nary fertility of soil and growth of grass had been effected by un- 
der draining and top-dressing the soil with sawdust, in which was 
absorbed the liquid manure from his stock. lie regarded the 
liquid manure of more value than the solid excrements of the 
animal. The conclusion had been arrived at by experiments, and 
from observation. Stakes had been set in pastures and meadows 
to note the effects of liquid and solid manures, and the growth of 
grass was in favor of those spots where the animals left liquid 
manures. Some few years since he commenced using sawdust for 
the absorption of liquid manures and spreading the compost on his 
grass lands, the soil responding in a most remarkable manner. 
Latterly he had been using the dust at the rate of sixty bushels 
per week. The manure is hauled upon the land and spread as 
evenly as possible with a shovel or fork ; it is then brushed and 
completely broken up, and distributed in fine particles. This 
division and fineness of manure is regarded of peculiar advantage, 
since the plants are better able to appropriate their food, and it 
reaches a great number. About half of the meadow is under- 
drained with horse-shoe tile, the drains being sunk three and a half 
feet deep. On this portion of the meadow grows the largest grass." 

VALUE OF SOOT. 

705. This, though generally thrown into the street and wasted, 
is one of the best manures. It is extensively used in England, and 



352 THE YOUNG FARMER S MANUAL. 

when only fifteen or twenty bushels arc applied to the acre, in- 
duces the most hixuriaiit crops of wheat and other grains. It 
contains, in small compass, almost all the ingredients of the ccal 
or wood used for fuel. It also contains several salts of ammonia, 
magnesia, and muriatic acid. Its comi)onents arc the natural 
food or stimulants of i)lants, and it can bo used to great advantage 
as a concentrated fertilizer, to stimulate germinating seeds ia the 
drill. It is not only sown broadcast with the grain, but it is ap- 
])lied to the root crops with the best results. Potatoes and car- 
rots especially arc benefitted by it. Six quarts of soot to a hogs- 
head of water make an excellent liquid manure for the garden. It 
can be applied with safety to all garden crops, and wdll pay for 
saving. In putting the stoves, furnaces, and fireplaces in order 
for winter, bear it in mind that soot is valuable, and will be 
wanted for spring use One, two, three or more barrels can be 
s ivcd, ia most families, espocially where wood is burned. Instead 
of allowing Lirgc chimnies to burn out, thus endangering the 
dwelling, remove the soot with a long-handled scraper. 

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF FERTILIZERS. 

706. The New England Farmer says on this subject : " Fer- 
tilizers have a two-fold effect: nutritious effect on plauts ; and the 
effect of modifying tne soil. Ojrtain substances are -csseutial to 
the growth of plauts, which the manures must furnish, if the 
soil is deficient in them. And these are all the ingredients 
of plants, except silica and soda. Soil, however, is seldom de- 
ficient in certain other substances, as iron, chlorine, magnesia, 
lime. Whatever nutritious element of soil is deficient, becomes 
most important in fertilizing. The absence of any one essential 
ingredient renders the presence of all the others of no account. 
Manure may act directly or indirectly, in the process of feeding 
plants. The elements of manure may be taken up at once by the 
plant, and may act precisely as the elements of the soil wdi'.ch arc 
available to feed the plant. If we tukj a barren soil, in which a 
plant will reach a small growth, the addition of l}one ashes or the 
ashes of wood will make the development of vegetation luxuriant ; 



THE YOUNG. FARMER's MANUAL. 353 

and if the quantity of these fertilizing materials is properly chosen, 
we may prove by analysis of the plant that it has absorbed these 
matters almost completely from the soil. This shows that under 
sucli circumstances the fertilizing matter passes at once into the 
plant. 

Tot. Then there are manures operating indirectly by acting 
on the soil : not on the plant immediately. The application of 
lime, in large doses, to the soils already charged with lime is 
beneficial in this way ; by acting on the soil it liberates matter 
already existing there, but in an insoluble state. It would liber- 
ate the alkalies, like potash ; and if long manured with animal 
manures, it will liberate the inert nitrogen. Lime often has the 
same effect as guano, by liberating potash, as the solution of 
guano in the soil does. The action of plaster and common salt is 
undoubtedly owing to this indirect effect we speak of — the pre- 
paration of the soil for nutrition. Eecent experiments have de- 
monstrated that a solution of plaster liberates from many soils 
potash and magnesia. It has been lound by comparing the effect 
of pure water and a solution of plaster en soils benefitted or not 
by plaster, that in the former case potash and magnesia are liber- 
ated in considerable quantities ; in the latter not at all. Certain 
minerals which contain silica, alumina, &c., analogous to the com- 
position of soil, and which being formed under conditions analo- 
gous to the composition of the soil may be supposed to exist in 
the soil, when subjected to the action of saline solution undergo 
chemical changes which throw some light on this indirect 
action of fertilizers. Minerals of this kind containing lime, sub- 
jected to a solution of common salt, will part with the lime, and 
hold the soda and salt in fixed combination. 

708. This new compound, treated with a solution of potash, 
will lose a portion of its soda and acquire potash. A solution of 
magnesia will displace the potash again. And, in general, the 
effect of any one alkali in solution will be to displace a quantity 
of some other held in the combination. Manures exert a physical 
effect on the soil. Peat or vegetable matter will often act favor- 
ably on soil by altering the texture. The extremes of dryness or 



354 

wetness in lii^ht or lieaYV lands are bronght by it to a proper me* 
dium, altliougli this is not its only action. 

709. The effect of lime on clay is physical to a great degree, 
as was found by the Lusatian farmers in liming their clay lands to 
bring them into tillal)le condition. They found that under-drain- 
ing produced the same effect. Lime is foum1, when mixed with 
moist clay, to increase its bulk and change its texture. Nearly 
all fertilizers, when applied in large quantifes, as stable manure, 
ashes, &c., produce greater or less alterations in the texture of 
soil which are advantageous. These three modes of action are all 
depc.dent one on another, and each fertiUzer exerts them all to a 
greater or less degree. It may happen that many fertilizers which 
act chiefly to supply food to the plant, in other cases may act by 
improving the texture of the soil. On many rich soils stable ma- 
nure does more good by the physical action of the litter than it 
does by the fertilizing materials which it adds. 

710. The action of manures is influenced by the peculiarities 
of the soil. Some soils are benefitted by plaster and salt, while 
others are indifferent to these fertilizers. It is probable that the 
testimony of practical men, asserting that some soils are 
damaged by these fertilizers, is correct. If plaster acts by liber- 
ating potash, its effect would not be manifest on a soil furnishing 
an abundance of potash to the crops, and large doses of plaster, 
by increasing the solubility, already sufficient, might waste the 
resources of the soil. 

711. Soils undergo modifications from year to year by tillage, 
cropping, <fec., and thus become subject to new requirements. We 
often find a course of manuring which has been efficacious for 
years lose its value and efficacy, and other fertilizers that had been 
in disrepute are found to be advantageous. On the shores of 
Long Island Sound fish have long been employed, and have at 
last proved to have lost their beneficial effects ; and on such 
lands snper-phosphate of lime has operated with good effect. 

712. Generally such partial fertilizers as fish, guano, lime and 
plaster are liable to fail after many years, and something else is 
necessary. Peculiarities of the plant also influence the action of 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 355 

fertilizers. Much cxperieuc3 seems to prove that turnips arc 
specially fond of super-pliosphates. Clover grows readily after an 
application of ashes or plaster, a fact accounted for, perhaps^ by 
the supply of potash which they give. 

now BARREN SOILS HAVE BEEN RENOVATED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, 

T13. J. W. Proctor, in an addi'ess, alludes to the renovation 
of a barren farm that had for a long period been considered 
hardly worth cultivation, an extract from which will, no doubt, 
encourage many disheartened farmers to make and apply more 
manure to their poor fields. He writes: " Within the list ten 
years I have watched with much interest the growing of this crop, 
(rye) on the town farm in Danvers, where it has varied from 
thirty to forty-five bushels to the acre ; at no time less than thirty. 
This too, on a sterile soil, composed chiefly of yellow dirt and 
gravel stones, with as little capacity to retain the manure applied 
as a sieve has to hold water. Do you ask how these crops have 
been raised ? My answer is, by thorough culture and manure. 
At each and all the plowings the plow has been sunk as deep as 
it could conveniently be drawn by two pairs of full grown and 
full led oxen, (none others being thought fit to be used on a farm 
where cattle are hoiight, not reared,) and the manure applied has 
thus been thoroughly mingled with the soil. Upon a stratum 
thus prepared the crop has started and been supported, and sel- 
dom impaired by drouth — the greatest obstacle to be encountered 
on any soil. On this farm, containing about sixty acres of land 
under cultivation, exclusive of wet meadows and wood-land, there 
are annually made two hundred cords, or five hundred loads of 
manure, chiefly from material taken from the peat meadows, and 
from the offal collected from the slaughter-houses of the village, 
by the aid of sixty swine, constantly kept, and changed twice a 
year. Thus the natural ste ility of the land is in a good measure 
corrected, and at a moderate expenditure, crops rivalling those on 
our best farms arc produced. It is within my recollection when 
it was seriously contemplated to abandon this farm, as not IjKing 
worth purposes of cultivation." 



356 THE Youj^G farmer's manual. 

IMPROVEMENT OP COLD SOIL IN MANURE. 

114. A correspondent of the Mairic Farmer gives an account 
of the manner in which a neighbor of his brought a lot of 
three acres into profitable cultivation. He says : "■ Said land 
was mostly a cold, clay soil, partly covered with alders ; one end 
of the lot stony — so poor that the former owner said it would not 
produce weeds. His first operation was to cut drains sixteen to 
twenty feet apart, three feet deep, and two and a half wide at the 
top. These were filled with small stones from the stony por- 
tion — next ploweJ — (in the fall) ton inches deep. Next spring 
hauled about ten cords green manure on one acre ; plowed 
again shoal; harrowed in a part of the dressing, (which he thinks 
preferable to plowing in,) then furrowed and manured in the hill 
with a shovelful of old yard manure, and then threw a spoonful 
of phosphate lime on the top. Planted with corn on the 1st of 
June. The clayey soil baked so hard after a rain followed by 
drouth as to prevent the corn from coming up readily ; so he 
went over it with an iron rake, breaking the crust over each hill. 
Now for the result : he harvested a crop from one aero, which, 
on being measured, and having the cubical contents reduced to 
bushels, was allowed to be one hundred hushels of bright corn, 
and this too in the cold Schoodic county, where there was frost 
every summer month. In addition to this large crop, he raised 
on the remaining land one hundred bushels potatoes, over two 
Imndred bushels of turnips, four bushels peas, twelve bushels 
beans, and a quantity of pumpkins, beets and cabbage. 

715. Another writer says: "Within the present month we have 
walked over fields which a few years ago were exhausted in the 
ordinary sens) to the last degree— that is, they gave no crops of 
anything. Left to themselves they had had no sod, and the only 
vegetation on them was a sparse covering of weeds. Some of 
the adjoining fields more exposed to winds are to-day blowing 
vsands. These fields are now well sodded, and have yielded the 
present season a good burden of grass. Three years is sufficient 
to renovate them The first year one bushel of gypsum, and 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 35t 

nothing else was applied per acre. Tills simple application start- 
ed clover ; cattle were allowed to eat it off. The next year the 
same dose was given, and the animals were up to their bellies in 
feed. Now this sod being broken up, corn, wheat or rye will 
give a fair crop. With a little good manure, large yields may be 
obtained, and under pro[)cr management there is no end to this 
increased fertility." I have quoted the foregoing extracts to en- 
courage the doubting to make and apply more manure. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OP MANURING IN AUTUMN. 

116, The philosophy of applying manure as a top-dressing 
in late autumn may be thus explained. The growing year is 
over. Everything is tending back to the ground from whence it 
came. Earth is to be resolved back to its mother dust. Grass, 
leaves, stubble, and all other vegetable substances, decay and go 
downward into the soil, where their substance will form new 
plants the next season. The temparature of the weather grows 
cooler and cooler almost every day ; and the various gases in the 
soil do not rise to promote vegetation as they do in the spring of 
the year. Therefore when manure is applied in late autumn, 
almost the entire strength is carried down into the soil, and there re- 
tained as food for plants until the next spring, when new life of 
plants begins, and long and warm days increase the temperature 
of the soil ; and thus those manurial substances — grass and salts 
— which promote the growth of plants, are brought up, and 
taken up by the roots of whatever is allowed to grow upon 
the soil. But when manure is spread on the surface in the spring 
of the year, only a small proportion of the salts and gases of the 
manure ever enter the soil ; but are swept away upon every 
breeze, and almost wholly lost in their efficacy of the crops on him 
who claims those substances as his own. 

tlT. I have observed, for many years past, that they who 
spread their manure on the surface in th^; spring of the year, pro- 
niote the growth of their neighbors' grass about as much as they 
do their own ; while, on the contrary, those farmers who spread it 
in the fall, derive all the benefit that the manure can impart in 



358 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANCAI. 

heavier and better crops the next season. A thin sprinkling of 
the scrapings of the barn-yard and sheds applied in November to 
grass land, will often increase the crop more than twice the usual 
amount. This I have often tested, and have never known it to 
fail. On the contrary, I have never been able to perceive but 
little benefit from manuring grass land in spring. I have my mind 
on the meadow of a neighbor, to which there was applied a 
heavy dressing of good manure in April; and I vvatclied it until the 
grass was mowed ; and I am compelled to acknowledge that 1 
could perceive little or no benefit at all arising from the top-dress- 
ing. The grass was very light, and yielded, as I judged, not more 
than one and a half tons of hay per acre. Had that quantity of 
manure been applied in autumn, no doubt the grass would have 
yielded more than three tons per acre. 

LIQUID MANURE, AND PUMP FOR USINQ IT. 

718. Although a large per centage of liquid manure is water, 
it is yet very valuable for promoting the growth of all kinds of 
crops, and often more so than the solid portions. Of course its 
value diminishes in proportion as it is diluted with water. When 
animals are fed on grain, the liquid which leaches from their 
droppings or is collected beneath the stables abounds in more 
fertilizing matter than that which flows from a pile of strawy 
manure. In the Old World the liquid manure of animals is saved 
with far more care than in America ; and it has been stated by 
reliable authority^ that iu B3lgiu n liquid manure is valued so 
highly, that the urine of a single cow commands over eight dol- 
lars per annum. P.irtlei pui'c'.i.ise it expressly for increasing the 
productiveness of their soils. If it is so valuable in other parts 
of the world, it certainly is worth saving in America. The great 
difficulty iu collecting liquid manure is a suitable pump. There 
is usually more or less sediment among it, which would clog an 
ordinary water pump. We give herewith an illustration of a 
portion of a very cheap liquid manure pump, which wo have 
found to be very convenient and effective. Any one who can 
joint a board straight and square will be able to make one with 



THE YOUNG FARMER'rf MANUAL. 



359 




little or iio difficulty. Four piec(3S of tiiick board are required, 
from six to ten feet long. Two of them must b3 just four iuches 
wide, and two others six inches wide. The latter two are nailed 
firmly on the edges of the others. This will make a penstock 
whose hollow is four inches square from end 
to end. Now fit a block in the lower end, 
and bore a two-inch hole through it, and fast- 
en a valve over the hole to open upwards, and 
nail the block in place. The larger the hole 
the bstter, if the valve closes it well. The 
next thing is to make the piston, which is re- 
presented by the accompanying illustration, 
fig, 1. This should be of hard wood, three 
and three-quarter inches wide, and one inch 
thick at the lower end, fitting well but work- 
ing easily. This will allow a piece of leather 
one-eighth of an inch thick to be nailed on each 
edge of the piston rod. Procure two pieces 
of leather, of the form shown in fig. 2, eight 
inches long from F to e, six inches broad at 
F, and five inches wide at e. These two pieces 
are shown nailed to the piston rod, fig. 1, c, c. 
At A, the rod is shown in two pieces, to in- 
dicate an indefinite length. B, is the handle 
to pump with. After the narrow ends of the 
leather have been nailed securely to the lower 
end of the rod A, place the edges of the 
leather together, on the edge of the piston 
rod, and nail them firmly with lath nails. As 
the piston is thrust downward, the leather will 
fold together, as represented by the angular 
lines, c, c, and allow the liquid to rise above 
it. But as soon as the piston rod is lifted, the leather spreads out 
to the sides and corners, and raises all the liquid above it, and the 
liquid rushes through the valve m the lower end of the penstock, 
following the piston upwards. A spout can be made near to the 




FIO. 1, 




360 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

top to conduct the liquid where it is desired. Pieces of cobs, 
blocks of wood or chaff, will not. obstruct the free working of 
this kind of pump. Such a pump will be found usjfid for pump- 
ing sediment from cesspools, or for emptying the vaults of privies, 
where most of the fecil matter is in a fluid and semi-fluid state. 
Paper will not obstruct the valve or piston. Such a pump will 
draw water out of a shallow well very fast. The deeper the well, 
the more power will be required to work it. (See pars. 498, 
500.) 

THE LAST WORD ABOUT MANURE. 

119. I have spun out this chapter mu3h against my own in- 
clinations. But I know well what is lacking in American agri- 
culture. It is manure — m.anure, and fertilizers. American farmers 
need line upon line about manure. They waste too much. They 
need exhorting, entreating, and beseeching to save with care, and 
apply more manure. Grood cultivation and abundant manuring 
are thj crowning concomitants in American agriculture. Farming 
cannot be made to pay for any considerable length of time with- 
out manure. On many kinds of soil it is folly to attempt to raise 
any kind of crops without a good dressing of manure. The 
sooner American farmers learn that by means of fertilizers only 
they are to make farming pay, the sooner our agriculture will be 
of a progressive and paying character. 



THE \^OUNG farmer's MANUAL, 361 



CHAPTER V. 

NOXIOUS PLANTS AND THEIR ERADICATION. 

" Now rid your fielt's of one year's seeding, 
And save the toil of seven years' weeding." 

t20. That farmer has a task before him, by no means pleas- 
ant, on whose fields noxious weeds have been allowed to go to 
seed for a number of seasons, or even for one season. Seeds of 
almost all kinds of noxious weeds will remain in the soil for many 
years — no one is able to determiue how long — and not lose their 
vitality. Noxious weeds, of several different kinds, have veget- 
ated in places on my farm which we knew had lain in the soil 
for more than thirty years. Before such seeds will vegetate they 
must be brought nearly to the surface of the ground. From 
what I have experienced in eradicating field mustard, winter 
cress, mulleins, and some other noxious wee Is, I have no hesitancy 
in saying, that the seeds of such plants will not lose their vitality 
for centuries when buried in the soil. If they will vegetate after 
having lain in the soil for thirty years, as I know they will, 
they will not, probably, lose their vitality in one hundred, or five 
hundred years. Farmers should be exceedingly careful to allow 
no noxious weeds to go to seed where it can possibly be 
avoided "When a crop of grain is harvested, with noxious weeds 
among it, never allow any of the seeds to find their way to the 
manure heap when it can be prevented. Fanning mills are made 
so perfect, at the present day, that there is no excuse for saving 
foul seed, with any crop, with the exception of grass seeds. 
"While a farmer is careful to manure his soil highly and cultivate 



302 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

it well, he must not neglect the complete extermination of pestif- 
erous plants that are ever ready to choke his crops. High 
manuring and good cultivation are the first important steps 
towar-ls the complete extermination of any plant. Better to 
abandon the cultivation of half one's farm, than to allow weeds 
to grow with crops, maturing th' ir seed, and scattering it again 
in the field or at the barn. 

721. The first step towards the complete eradication of weeds 
is to prevent their seeding, or at least casting any seed on the 
ground. If every weed is cut down before the seed is formed, 
an excellent beginning will have been made in a good direction. 
The next thing is an understanding of tlie k%hit of the plants to 
eradicate ; otherwise all efforts will be unavailing. A farmer 
should know whether a plant be an annual, biennial^ or perennial. 
Plants of different habit require ve^'y different treatnieiit in erad- 
icating them. Annual plants need a diflferent system of manage- 
ment from perennials or biennials. 



THE CANADA THISTLE — (Cii'sium Arvensc.) 

722. The Canada Thistle, a cut of which is herewith given, 
is a po'eiiniid plant. It is propagated by seed and by its roots. 
The seeds are attached to a downy pappus, not unlike the com- 
mon thistle or milkweed, by which they are scattered — there is 
no telling how far. Wlien they are flying in the air, if they come 
in contact with the tops of forest trees they fall to the ground, 
and as soon as the timber is cut off, they will vegetate. The seeds 
will vegetate, if in a favorable place, any time from early in the 
spring to late in the autumn. If they vegetate in the former part 
of the season, they will not produce seed daring that season, but 
will throw out lateral roots in every direction, and will send up 
a plant every few inche-;, and so near each other that in rieli 
soils the leaves will cover the whole ground. In mellow soils 
and in wet seasons they spread very rapidly, and will soon take 



TITR YOUNG FARMERS MANUAL. 



3G3 



possession of a wliole field. But instead of being a curse to 
farmers, Canada thistles are a rich blessing in disguise. They 
have been the cause of raising very many noble crops of all kinds 




THE CANADA THISTLE. 

of grain ; and they are a great source of wealth to slack, thriftr 
less farmers : because had it not been for the thistles, such farm- 



364 

ers would not half cultivate their soil ; and consequently not 
half a crop would have been produced. Canada thistles flourish 
best in a very rich, friable soil, although they will grow on almost 
any soil, if it is not too wet. It is fir more difficult to eradicate 
them from a poor, worn-out soil than from a very rich soil. If 
a farmer cultivates and manures his soil well, raising those crops 
which will return him t1ie most profit, Canada thistles will soon 
be among the rare specimens of exotics. 

723. The roots of the Canada thistle strike very deep, and 
are exceedingly tenacious of life. Tliere was a small patch where 
1 once dug the cellar for a hous?, and although the subsoil, clear 
to the bottom of the cellar, was most complete hcird pun, the 
roots extended below the bottom, and thistles sprang from them 
all over the cellar the next season after the house was erected. 
Canada thistles exhaust a soil but very little when compared 
with other plants ; and if a farmer pursues the most proper 
course in extermiuating them, they may be eradicated most 
effectively, with little labor, in one season. But if the labor 
expended in endeavoring to eradicate them is not applied at the 
proper season, according to a certain stage in the growth of the 
plant, they may be plowed and hoed throagh the entire season, 
and the next season they will appear as numerous and herilthy as 
if they had not been molested. 

724. Although they may be smothered in one season with 
any substance, or be completely eradicated with a hoe, or by 
pulling them, still, when they have taken complete possession of 
a field, the labor of extermination must be performed with the 
plow. Three times plowing on a rich soil will most effectively 
eradicate them, providing the plowing is performed at a certain 
sta^-e in the growth of the plants, anl the soil all plowed up 
with narrow furrows and no balks made. The reason why so 
many fail in their efforts to eradicate noxious weeds by plowing 
is, the plowing is only half done. A poor team, a poor, disin- 
terested, unskillful plowman, with a poor plow and dull point, 
will scarify the soil just enough to make the thistles grow well 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 365 

the next season. I liavo known instances where farmors com- 
menced plowing thistles early in the spring, and kept them well 
plowed — four or five times— all the season, when on th3 next 
season a few thistles appeared ; and on the second and third 
seasons they were as numerous as ever. And I have known 
farmers delay plowing them until they were in blossom, when 
they would plow them three times, and destroy completely every 
root in the soil, but the next year they would appear from the 
subsoil as numerous as ever. 

t25. From these facts we learn that, in order to eradicate 
them thoroughly in one season by plowing, they must be plowed 
at a certain stage in the growth of the plant ; and the times of 
plowing must not be too far apart, nor succeed each other too 
soon. They must be " grown to death." If they are plowed in 
spring or summer, before they have attained a good growth, we 
may abandon the idea of eradicating them during that season. 
If the soil where they are growing is a sod, let it be plowed in 
autumn. On the next season, when the thistles begin to lieacl, 
if they are so large that a team does not like tc travel among 
them, mow them and plow the ground thoroughly. Let no balks 
be made. If they are not very large, they need not be mowed, 
but the tops may be drawn under with a chain. (See How to 
Do it, par. 68-1-.) The tops of thistles will not turn to roots, as 
many people have stated, imless a portion of the top is left un- 
buried. See that the tops are completely covered with earth, 
not less than two inches deep, otherwise they will continue to 
grow. After plowing, harrow, with a heavy harrow or culti- 
vator, in order to draw out as many roots as possible. In not 
less than four weeks plow again, and then again in about five or 
six weeks. The thistles should have sufficient tunc to grow, to 
exhaust the roots ; and they should not be allowed to grow so 
long between the plowings, that the roots will begin to spread 
or to acquire any strength. If the plowings are properly done, 
four ]->lowings, at proper intervals, will eradicate any patch of 
Canada thistles. But if the soil is stony, and many balks are 
made, they will not all be eradicated in one season. 



3GG THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

726. If tliorc arc but few thistles in a field, plant some hoed 
crop, and manure higlily ; and cut every tJiistle with a broad line, 
or })ull them once in four or five weeks; anl if tlie work is 
thoroughly done, none will appear tlie next season. But if some 
of them arc left uncut, and some are bent down and bruised a 
little, there will be lots of them the next year. Pulling them is 
more efFoctual than hoeing, if every nm of them is 'pulled. Let a 
few only be left, and you will always have thistles. In pastures, 
let them be mowed close to the ground as soon as they are larnre 
enough. One mowing in the former part of tlie season will sub- 
due them more than two mowings after they have blossomed. 
If they are allowed to grow unmolested until they blossom before 
they are mowed, as a general rule it will not subdue them 
enough to pay for mowing, althougli I have known instances, on 
very rich soil, when thistles wore four, and even five feet high, 
with large hollow stems, where they were mowed before a heavy 
shower, so that the stubble was filled with water, which produced 
stagnation of the sap, and every root died. (See Prize Essay, 
by the Author, in "Transactions of the IS'ew York State Agri- 
cultural Society," 1846. 

CANADA THISTLES AMONG CROPS. 

127. When they appear among early red clover that is to be 
cut for hay, the clover will be fit to cut before the thistles have 
matured sufficiently to go to seed. When they are among other 
grass, let it be mowed before the seed is ripe. When they grow 
taller than oats and barley, when such crops arc about one foot 
high, mow off all the tops of the thistles. Then they will injure 
the growth of grain but little. Keep them from going to seed. 
In many sections of our country, as soon as the timber is cut off, 
Canada thistles spring up. In late autumn, take up every little 
thistle with a spade. They will be found, one in a place, just 
sprung from the seed. The roots have not yet spread only a 
few inches, and a spade will take them up root and branch. But 
if these solitary plants be left till next season, they will soon 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 36T 

spread over the entire ground. If there are ma.iy thistles, seed 
the land thickly with Kentucky blue grass, orchard grass and 
timothy ; then mow them three times each year, until the stumps 
of trees are rotted, so that the entire ground can be plowed. 
This is a reliable manner of subduing this pest when the ground 
cannot be plowed. I have been accustomed to pull them with 
wooden tongs when the plants were few and scattering, and 
the ground soft ; and have often drawn out roots eighteen inches 
long. Water will settle into the holes where the roots grew, 
and retard the growth of the remaining roots. My experience is 
that hands with leather mittens on are better for pulling than 
wooden pincers or tongs. 

AVINTER CRESS— SCURVY GRASS— ( Barbarea Vulgaris.) 

728. Winter Cress is twin brother of Field Mustard. The 
seed of mustard and winter cress look alike, taste alike, and 
possess equal vitality. Winter cress flourishes well in b\v, wet 
places, or on the dry upland. It never matures its seed in one 
season. The young plants will live during the winter like muUeinis 
and bull thistles, and after fructification the neit season the 
roots will die. It never matures its seed among spring crops, 
unless the plants are allowed to vegetate the previous autumn, 
and are not well plowed under in the previous spring. When it 
appears in the spring among winter cro[)S, it must be pulled or 
cut off near the ground, wliich is quite as well as to pull it. In 
case there is much seed in the soil plow it, harrow it, or cultivate 
it often, and grow it out, as recommended for mustard. The 
next season, after a field is seeded with grass or early clover, if 
there should b3 much of it, as it matures before clover is fit to 
cut, the field should be pastured, so that the grass can be mowu 
whin it is in blossom. 

729. The difference b^'tween Winter Cress and Field Mustard 
is, the mustard has rough, jagged leaves, and blossoms of a 
lighter color than cress and is an annual, while cress has smooth, 
dark green leaves, and is a biennial. Dr. Darlington's " Agri- 
cultural Botany " says : " It is called Early Barharca, Early 



368 



THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 



Winter Cress, and Scurvy Grass. Roots biennial, stem nine to 
fifteen inches high. [I have raised it three ^eet high. Author] 
Leaves smooth, lower ones three or four inches long ; petals 
yellow ; siliques two or throe inches long and slender. In seme 
of the gardens near Philadelphia it is cultivated under the name 
of Scurvy Grass, as the leaves afford a medium salad." The 
kind alluded to, I think, is Barharca Praecox. The weed which 
appears in many of our gi'ain-growing districts is Barharea Vul- 
gar is, 

ERADICATIN^a PIGEON W3ED, OR RED ROOT. 




130. Pigeon Weed, 
wliich is sometimes cal- 
led LUhospsnmom , or 
Stonij Sczi, is a bien- 
nial plant, and flourish- 
es only where winter 
crops arc raised. Al- 
though it is a very 
noxious weed, as its 
seeds possess great vi- 
tality, and the stom- 
achs of animals will 
not digest them when 
they are not crushed, 
nor will they be ground 
in the gizzards of fowls, 
still one acre of mus- 
tard or winter cress 
is incomparably more 
uifQcult to exterminate 
than ten acres of pig- 
eon weed. The seed 
of pigeon weed fur- 
nishes oil similar to 



PiaEON ^VEED, OR RET> ROOT. 



THE YOUNG FARMER' S MANUAL. 369 

linseed oil ; but it exhausts a good soil more than a crop of flax- 
seed will. By cultivating a rotation of spring crops, and by 
plowing and harrowing the ground in autumn, in order to pro- 
mote the vegetation of the seeds, pigeon weed can be emdicated 
in two or three seasons, even if it has taken complete possession 
of the soil. Pigeon weed, like winter wheat, must iiave two 
seasons to mature in. For this reason it is never seen among 
spring wheat, oats, Indian corn, and barley, except in the fall 
after corn is cut up. 

731. As some birds have the power of disgorging the con- 
tents of their crops, pigeons have been known to empty their 
crops of certain kinds of seed on recently sowed wheat fields, 
and fill themselves with wheat. No doubt pigeon weed seed is 
often brought to wheat fields in this manner from a great dis- 
tance, as the young plants frequently appear where no such weeds 
have ever been seen before. When there is but little of it, let it 
be pulled in the spring or summer. Great care should be 
exercised that none of the seed h thrown among birnyard 
manure, or where fowls will eat it, as they will drop it araDng 
the manure. In this way the seed is sure to be carried to some 
cultivated field. Birds of the air often drop the seed in mellow 
places, where they go daily to roll. Let such plants always be 
pulled early in the season. When wheat is put in with a drill, 
men can travel between the drills to pull noxious weeds with- 
out tra i.pling down the growing wheat. 

OX-EYE DAISIES — CLeMcanfAemM/y* Vulgare.) --now to eradicats. 

♦' For who but he who arched the skies. 
And pours the day-spring's living flood ; 
Wondrous ahke in all he tries, 
Could rear the daisy's i^urple bud ?" — T. M. Goon. 

732. The Daisy is a perennial plant, and will root out grass, 
until it obtains complete ascendency over all other plants. It is 
propagated by the spreading of its roots and by the seed. The 
seed will vegetate if dropped anywhere on a tough sod ; and 
when daisies abound in a pasture field, and are allowed to 



370 



THF, YOUNf; FARMER S MANUAL 



mature tlu'ir seed, cattle will cat the Leads, and scatter the seed 
ill their droppings over the whole farm in one season. They 
may be easily exterminated by cultivating a rotation of spring 
crops lor four seasons, allowing no seed to mature. When a 
hoed cop is raised, every stool or bunch of daisies must bo 

pulled or hoed up and 
the dust shook off, and 
when the soil is plowed 
the next season every 
stool or bunch must 
be buried not less than 
tvro inches deep. Pull 
them in the nooks of 
fences when the soil 
is wet, and throw them 
in heaps, or remove the 
fences, and plow them. 
If a winter crop is 
grown on the soil 
where they exist, they 
will vegetate in Aut- 
umn and mature their 
seed the next season, 
before a crop of grain 
is ripe. Sometimes 
timothy seed is full of 
daisy seed, and as the 
seeds are so small, it 
is difficult to perceive 
ox-F.vB DAISIES. tlicm. Drlcd daisies for 

fodder arc about as nutrltia:r> as an equal quantity of line brush. 
Pity the sorrows of a poor ainm.il that is compelled to subsist on 
daisy hay ! One crop of daisies will exhaust a soil more than 
two crops of clover. 

7o3. Somatlmes very careful fiirraers meet vvith bunches of 
daisies in their meadows or pasture where no other weed can be 




THE YOUN'G FARifER'^ AIAXUAL. 37 1 

fount!. Where do they come from ? Cattle brought the seed. 
I have ill mind a neat farmer who kept a drove of cattle one 
night, whicii had been fed on hay, among which there was daisy 
seed. Wherever those cattle left droppings, a bunch of luxuriant 
daisies sprang up nearly two years afterwards. It was a mys- 
tery he coul 1 not solve, that tliey should not appear till so long 
a time had elapsed. The seed was dropped in January. The 
next spring they vegetated, and grew all the season without 
sending up any seed stems. Of course, daisies would hardly be 
noticed that season while the young plants were getting well 
rooted. But the next season the tall stems and Inrge white 
blossoms marked the spots where the strange cattle dropped th3 
seeds. This is one of the ways that the ox-eye daisy becomes 
scattered over clean meadows and pastures. Another common 
way is by purchashig manure and hay, and sowing grass seed, in 
which there is daisy seed. When there is but a Httle m a place, 
pull or dig it up before the seed is matured. That man who 
feeds liay with daisies in it will soon have it in every field on his 
farm. Most writers afi&rm that no seed will ever germinate 
after it has been through sheep. Although sheep grind their 
feed fine, I am satisfied they do not crush all the seed. 

734. J. J. Thomas, writes : — " Many portions of the 
State of New York and Pennsylvania are infested with this 
weed. In many places we may observe the clear white of its 
abundant blossoms contrasting with the deep green of surround- 
ing vegetation. It is hardy, and seems to flourish where other 
plants are starved; while on fertile soils it vies with the most 
luxuriant, endeavoring to outstrip every cultivated crop, and 
tims exhibiting to the passer-by the unthrift of every farmer who 
suffers its existence upon his soil. It is a very prolific weed, 
each root throwing up from sixty to seventy-five main stalks, 
each with half a dozen side branches, and not one without its 
seed head well filled with fully-developed germs for future crops 
of this pest of the farm. Upon stumpy land it is very difficult to 
eradicate the white daisy. But on land which can all be plowed 
while they are in early blossom, just deep enough to cover them 



372 THE YOUNG FARMKr's MANUAL. 

well, they can soon be eradicated. After the first plowing, allow 
the roots to dry for a few days, and then, in dry weather, plow 
again, being careful to plow well, and follow with v. thorough 
harrowing. When the proper season arrives for sowing buck- 
wheat, plow and harrow again, and sow thickly with this grain, 
and the daisy will be destroyed if the work has been thoroughly 
done. Th3 importance of bringing the soil into full cultivation 
while the daisy is in blossom cannot be overstated. Turn the 
weeds all undsr before the seeds begin to ripen, and with the 
harrow keep the plants from taking root, and they will soon give 
np the contest. The seed product of the white daisy is enormous. 
There arc not often less than one hundred and fifty heads to the 
single root — often five times that number, and each full to over- 
flowing with seeds. We have found, by actual count, over four 
hundred; and placing the estimate at one half that number for the 
lowest number of seed heads per plant, we have thirty thousand 
seeds from one. At that rate of increase, the soil upon which 
they are allowed to grow will soon have room for nothing besides. 
PulUng them by hand, we need only undertake after a soaking 
rain. Their roots, so numerous and so strongly fixed to the soil, 
will not come up at any time without a strong pull; and when 
the ground is dry, the plants will break before they will loose their 
hold. One of the best ways to keep clear of them is to use 
great caution about sowing them. Every farmer should bo able 
to detect all kinds of foul seeds at a glance. The white daisy 
has a seed considerably larj;er than timothy seed, shaped some- 
what like the seed of the carrot, but smooth and destitute of fuzz. 
Its color is light drab and brown, in parallel stripes, running from 
one end of the seed to the other. When once known it is easily 
detected." 

HORSE SORREL, SHEEP SORREL, AND WOOD SORREL. 

735. Botanists have arranged the field sorrel under the head 
of Rumex Acetosella and Oxalis Acetosella. And although most 
practical farmers are accustomed to speak of sorrel as sheep 
sorrel, horse sorrel or wood sorrel, I have not been able to find 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 373 

in any botany a plant described as horse sorrel. What is most 
commonly called horse sorrel, Dr. Darlington describes as sheep 
sorrel, and some other botanists call it common wood sorrel. 

736. There are so many kinds of sorrel that it is not con- 
sidered important for my purpose in this treatise to give a 
botanical description of them. The horse sorrel, which is often 
called field sorrel and wood sorrel, and sometimes sheep sorrel, 
may be known by its large, long leaves, of a lanceolate, hastate 
shape, or of a shape somewhat like a lance and spear combined. 
There is, usually, a kind of hook or projection on each side near 
the base of each leaf, which are always long and narrow. On 
rich soils I have often seen them three inches long. The leaves 
are usually very tender, and .children as well as adults eat them 
with avidity ; although too much of them would be injurious, on 
account of the large quantity of oxalic acid which chemists tell 
us exists in the leaves of sorrel. 

731. What is commonly called sheep sorrel has leaves very 
much like sweet clover, and the leaves are very tender, and are 
relished much better than the other kind of sorrel, as the acid 
taste is more delicate. This kind of sorrel is often met with when 
harvesting spring wheat, oats or barley. It grows in little tufts, 
and at first sight looks a little like a tuft of young and tender 
clover. 

738. Both kinds are found along fences where the soil is 
mellow and the grass has run out ; and sometimes tliey are 
about the only herbage that will grow in certain portions of a 
cultivated field. Sometimes large stems will be sent up from one 
to two feet high, full of seed, which, if allowed to mature nnd 
fall to the ground, will remain in the soil for many years, unless 
it is so near the surface that the moisture andhe[»t are just right 
to cause it to vegetate. Sorrel is by no means a troublesome 
weed, providing one understands its habit and knows how to 
eradicate it. 

739. Sometimes when soils have been impoverished by a bad 
system of management, so that it is difficult to seed it down with 
any kind of grass, sorrel will take complete possession. It is a 



374 THE YOTIT^G farmer's MANUAL. 

very iianly plant, and will flourish on barren places where no 
other green thing will attempt to grow, 

HOW TO ERADICATE IT. 

740. In the first place, keep it frona going to seeJ. Then 
cultivate the soil well, and manure it abundantly for a few suc- 
cessive seasons, and sorrel will give no farther trouble. Sorrel 
never flourishes luxurmntly on a soil that will yield three tons of 
hay per acre, or thirty bushels of wheat, or eighty bushels of 
oats, or eighty bushels of shelled Indian corn p?r acre ; because 
cultivated plants will soon supplant it;. Red clover, for example, 
and orchard grass will grow so quickly, if the soil is not too 
barren, that sorrel will be efTectually choked out. 

741. Now, suppose there is more sorrel in a field than there 
is anything else. Haul on as much barn-yard manure as can be 
plowed under conveniently, and plant it with Indian corn, and 
cultivate it well, letting none go to seed. Should it come up 
thickly in autumn, and ba forward enough to go to seed before 
winter, let the ground be plowed next spring, and about the first 
of June plow the ground again, and on a dry day harrow it 
thoroughly. About the first of July plow again, and sow buck- 
wheat, lu autumn give another oat of manure, if the soil is 
not already rich enough, and the following spring plow again, 
and sow spring rye, and seed down with red clover and orchard 
grass. Sorrel will give no more trouble, if treated in this way, 
until the grass has begun to fail, Tiiis is a rare plant on a farm, 
where a g.ood rotation system has been aJopt3d. 

EXTIRPATING SORREL BY APPLYING LIME. 

142. The scientific remedy for killing sorrel is an application 
of lime to the soil where it grows. The agricultural 
chemistry of this lofty philosophy is, that there is ox.ilic acid in 
the sorrel, and there is an excess of it in the soil. Iherefore an 
alkali (there is alkali in lime) must be applied to the soil for 
the purpose of neutralizing this oxalic acid, which is found only 



THE YOUNG FAKMER's MANUAL. 315 

in the sorrel. Distinguished agricultural chemists have recom- 
mended this practice for the certain extirpation of sorrel from the 
soil ! And credulous and honest farmers, who thought them- 
selves very ignorant, have applied lime bountifully for that 
purpose ; and editors of agricultural papers have reiterated this 
remedy as the only infallible panacea for the extirpation of 
sorrel ! 

743. If an old superannuated grandmother, who never saw- 
any books except her Bible and the Babes in the Woods, could 
not give a more philosophical and practical remedy for the extir- 
pation of sorrel than the application of lime for the purpose of 
neutralizing the oxalic acid that might be formed in the sorrel, 
any one might be justified in denominating her a demented old 
dotard. One might, with the samo propriety, apply lime to the 
roots of currant bushes, for the purpose of neutralizing the acid 
that we taste in currants. 

744. It is indeed passing strange that wise chemists should 
have fallen into such a blunder as this. Oxalic acid docs not 
exist in the soil. Therefore what folly to apply an alkali to 
neutralize an acid that is not there. It is no evidence of a sour- 
ness in a soil because it produces sour and bitter plants. The 
acid is formed in the growing plant. It is not absorbed from 
the soil by the roots of sorrel and conveyed up into the leaves ; 
and it is ridiculously absurd to assume that lime may be ajiplied 
as a remedy for the extirpation of sorrel. 

_745. This position is well substantiated by tlic fact that sorrel 
has often been seen to grow luxuriantly in close proximity to 
lime kilns, where lime had been applied at the rate of several 
thousands of bushels per acre. All the effect lim:3 can have in 
extirpating sorrel will be produced by preparing the soil b-y way 
of fertilizing it for other plants which will overgrow and supplant 
the sorrel. 

746. Since writing the foregoing paragraplis, I was i)leascd 
to meet with the folio w.ng remarks in the A?nericcni Agriculturist, 
previous to my editorial connection with it : — * Lirao is often 
recommended to kill out sorrel : the alleged reason being that 



376 THE YOUNG FAR.ME.VS MANUAL. 

the oxalic acid in the sorrel shows that the soil is sour, and to 
remedy this we must apply an alkali, like lime. Doubtless good 
often comes from such application of lime, but not for the reason 
here given. 

T47. The presence of oxalic acid in sorrel is no better proof 
that the land is sour, than is the acidity of the npple or of the 
rhubarb plant. The same ground which grows a sour apple will 
grow a sweet one ; the two often grow on the same tree. The 
vegetable acids (of v/liich oxalic is one) are producel ia the 
organism of the tree or plant, and not in the land. True, the 
elements of the acid are gathered from the soil and air ; but they 
do not exist in the acid form which we find in the plants. These 
very elements, when taken up by* a potatoe plant, form starch. 
When taken up by a corn plant, form sugar, and when taken up 
by a "Tape vine, form tartaric acid. If the soil itself be as closely 
examined as science will permit, there will be found neither the 
starch of the potatoe, the sugar of the corn, the cream of tartar 
of grapes, nor the oxalic acid of sorrel. In view of these facts, 
then, it is useless to apply an alkali to the soil to neutralize an 
acid which does not exist there. But is there, then, no way of 
eradicating sorrel? Yes. It spreads like quack-grass and 
Canada thistles, chiefly by underground stems with numerous 
joints, each of which will form a plant. Break up the land in 
July and August and put in a crop of buckwheat or rutabagas ; 
and the intruder will be pretty well simbbed out. A corn crop, 
or other hoed crop, if well drilled in mid-sunmier, will answer a 
good purpose. Dressings of the soil are also very important. 
Ai)plications of lime are useful to decompose vegetable matter, 
and so to ' warm up' the land and quicken the growth of plants. 
Chief of all in value is barn-yard manure applied copiously and 
well worked in. This gives strong food for the vigorous growth 
of other plants than sorrels ; and when they occupy the land, 
this badge of an impoverished soil will disappear." 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL 



sn 



THE SHEEP LAUREL.— CXa/mia Angustifolia. ) 

U8. This plant, which 
is commou on hill sides and 
in pastures, is Iznown by 
the names Sheep Laurel, 
Lambkill, and Dwarf Lau- 
rel. It is a small ever- 
green shrub, about two feet 
high with slender branches. 
Tlie leaves arc light-green, 
pale on the under side, and 
of the size and shape shown 
In the engraving, which re- 
presents a flowering branch 
of the natural size. The 
flowers are crimson, and 
though not particularly- 
showy, are, upon close in- 
spection, curious and beau- 
tiful. I notice this shrub 
on account of its alleged 
poisonous effects w^hen eat- 
en by sheep. The very 
general impression that it 
possesses poisonous quali- 
ties is indicated by two of 
the popular names quoted 
above ; but after a pretty 
diligent search for authen- 
tic statements in regard to 
its deleterious qualities, I 
find the accounts vaguo 
and unsatisfactory. 

149. Mr. L. A. Morrell, 
author of the Americaii 
Sfmphercl, states that it is poisonous 




THE SHEEP LAUEEIi. 

From the antidotes pub- 



378 THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 

lishcd from time to time b}^ the agricultural papers, I infer that 
it is at most a weak poison. 

750. The best manner of exterminating it is to mow' it c'.oso 
to the ground early in the season, and as often afterwards as it 
is large enough to be mowed. This will subdue it in pastures 
and meadows until the ground can be jjlovved and hoed. One 
four-years rotation of crops will exterminate the last vestige of 
it, if the work be well performed. 

TOAD-FLAX. 

751. Within the remembrance of many of our readers there 
was a plant cultivated in gardens as an ornament which bore 
the popular name of " Butter and Eggs." It has quite disap- 
peared from our gardens, but has taken up its abode in fijlds 
and meadows, and along the roadside, where it not only flourishes 
without any care, but strongly resists the efforts made to get rid 
of it. The engraving shows the upper part of a stem with the 
flowers — the wliole stem being from one to three feet liigh, and 
bearing below long and narrow leaves, like those shown in the 
figure. The structure of the flower is quite curious, and will 
repay examination. The four stamens and the pistil are quite 
hidden within the flower. The pod, instead of splitting Vv lien 
ripe, opens one or two holes in its sides to allow the seed to fall 
out. The leaves are of a pale green, the flowers of a light yellow 
color, except the palate, which is of a bright orange. Tliis con- 
trast of colors doubtless gave origin to the name " Butter and 
Eggs." But the most important part of the plant is the root, 
which is woody, creeping, and very tenacious of life, — qualities 
which render it a troublesome weed. In some places the notion 
prevails that the more its destruction is attempted, the faster 
it spreads ; and with this view patches are sometimes left in the 
fields for fear of making matters worse by disturbing them. This 
belief has some foundation in fact, and there is no doubt that 
plowing and harrowing will break and scatter the roots, every 
piece of which will start and form a plant. But a field infested 



THE YOUXG FARMERS' MANUAL. 



319 



with this, or simllai* weeds, should be kept ia hoed crops until 
the evil is exterminated. 
In Pennsylvania, the 
plant is known as Ran= 
stead-weed, on account, 
it is said, of its introduc- 
tion there by a Mr. Ran- 
stead, who, many years 
ago, cultivated it in his 
garden. The name Toad- 
flax is the one by which 
the plant is known in 
England ; and as it is 
very desirable to pre- 
serve uniformity in popu- 
lar as well as botanical 
names, we give it the 
preference over the 
others. To eradicate, 
never let a plant go to 
seed. Mow it in past- 
ures and meadows, and 
plant Indian corn one 
year, and sow buckwheat 
the next. This will des- 
troy it. 

Wneu single plants 
first appear, pull them 
before they blossom. 
When mowing grass, if 
any has matured its seed, 
cut it up with cnre, and 
burn it or destroy it. 

When this plant appears in old pastures, i)low the ground, 
manure well, and seed with orchard grass and Kentucky blue 
grass and red clover. 




TOAD FLAX. 



380 TOR YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

CHESS OR CHEAT. — Bromus SccaliflUS. 

752. I doubt wliethcr there is another plant in the world 




THE YOUNG FARMEli's MANUAL. 381 

that has elicited so much discussion as this. It is ray purpose tc 
show what chess is, how it may be identified when seen, and how 
exterminated. Thousands of good farmers do not even know it 
when they meet with it. The ilUistration re[)resents the full 
size of a large panicle of the grain. By comparing this re- 
presentation with a growing specimen, any one will be able tc 
recognize it. The little awn, or bristle to tlie chaff of each grain, 
varies much in length, being sometimes longer than is shown in 
the engraving. Although the chess grows luxuriantly, it can 
not be considered other than as a worthless weed, which should 
be carefully eradicated. An attempt was made some years ago 
to introduce it under the name of Willard's Bromus It was 
found to yield a large quantity of fodder, but its quahty was 
shown by direct experiment to be poor. Cows having equally 
free access to the bromus, or chess, and swale hay and corn- 
stalks, invariably neglected the chess. 

TRANSMUTATION OF WHEAT TO CHESS. 

153. There is a mystery about the phenomena that farmers 
some times meet with concerning chess. Some men have scouted 
at the idea that wheat will ever produce chess. Editors of 
agricultural papers have denounced intelligent farmers as con- 
summate ninnies b'jcause they have sometimes been induced to 
believe that the wheat plant has sometimes produced chess ; and 
I suppose I shall be denounced as an ignoramus for appearing to 
acknowledge any thing of the kind. But facts are stubborn 
things. I cannot afi&rm that wheat never does produce chess. 
I have seen chess produced where, had it not been for my 
knowledge ot botany, I would not hesitate for a moment to 
say that the chess sprang irom wheat. My botanical knowledge 
assures me that wheat never produces chess. And I th.nk that 
is correct : 

Query. — An ox broke into a field of wheat early in the 
spring and cropped off tlu spears for several feet square where 
he entered the enclosure. Wherever he ate off the wheat, large 
chess appeared. The ground was quite soft where he walked 



382 THE YOUNG FARMER's MANUAL. 

across the field ; and stems of chess grew around every track ; 
and no chess could be found any where else in the field. "Who 
will explaui to me whence came the chess ? In another instance, 
there was a hollow in the field where wheat was sowed, which 
covered an area of several square rods. Water would often 
stand several inches deep in this hollow, and freeze and thaw 
until it had all evaporated. Good wheat grew up to the point 
where the water covered the ground. Below the water-mark, 
nothing but chess appeared. If this is not a poser for botanists, 
I am no judge of wheat and chess. I ask, where did it come 
from ? You say, and I also say, that it never sprang from wheat. 
It was never sowed there. Has any one ever sowed chess, for a 
succession of years, to produce wheat ? With all .ly knowledge 
of botany, I dare not afiirm that nice wheat may not be pro- 
duced from chess I It is said that our peach es originated from 
almonds. Is it any more incredible that wheat should have 
sprung from chess ? Who can deny it? and at the same time 
give us indubitable assurance that it is not so ? 

754. If we let some kind of turnips remain in the ground all 
winter and go to seed the next season, the product will be 
nothing but tops. It may not always be so. But I have 
always found this not to fail. This is a fact. Now , then, I ask 
botanists to explain it on philosophical principles. 

755. Botanists agree, that as chess belongs to a distinct 
genus from wheat, the possibility of its ever changing from one 
to the other is effectually excluded. Chess is very prolific; One 
seed will often bring forth a thousand- fold. The kernels will 
pass through the stomachs of animals, the gizzards of birds 
and domestic fowls without losing their vitality. They will 
often remain in the ground for years, and then grow when it is 
brought near the surface of the ground. J. J. Thomas affirms 
in the Annual Register, that " chess will often grow not more 
than two inches high, and perfect the seed," which seems almost 
incrediljlc. It is easily eradicated by raising none but spring 
crops, and sowing none of the seed with winter grain. A good 
fainiiug mill will blow it all out, as it is much lighter than wheat 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 383 

or rye. Then, do not f<jed it to fowls or stock until it is 
ground or boiled. There is so little nourishment in it, that it is 
hardly worth grinding into meal. 

T^VRiyocK— {Lappa Major.) 

151. No good farmer will allow this coarse and disagreeable 
weed to flourish on his farm. After a few plants have been 
allowed to go to seed, a long time will elapse before they can 
be exterminated. As burdock is a biennial plant, the seeds ger- 
minate one season, and produce seed the next season. After 
this, the root and all dies. Eurdock is seldom seen in cultivated 
fields. In neglected nooks, where the ground is rich and bare, 
burdock will supplant every thing else. 

758. The best way to eradicate the plants is to cut them with 
sharp hoes, two or more inches below the surface of the ground, 
late in autumn, when the water will enter the roots and destroy 
them. If the ground where they grow can bo plowed, they may 
be easily exterminated, unless there is much seed in the soil, 
which a few years of cultivation will destroy by vegetation. 

WILD MUSTARD — CHARLOCK. — {Sinnpis Afvensis.) 

159. A branching, annual plant, two to six feet high. Lower 
leaves deeply lobed, and varying much in their shape, the upper 
ones not lobed, but toothed or notched. Stem and leaves rough 
with scattered hairs, which generally point backwards. Flowers 
bright yellow, numerous, appearing from June till August, con- 
sisting of four small sepals and four large yellow petals, the lat- 
ter narrowed into a long claw at the base, the other end ovate, 
with generally a slight notch in the end. Pods one to one and- 
a-half inches long, tipped with the dried style of the flower. Seeds 
numerous, round and black. Plant varies much in different 
situations. In some places it is six or seven feet high, very 
branching, and producing thousands of seeds ; and in dry, hard 
soils I have seen it but a few inches high, tipped with a single 
flower. Most abundant in the central and western part of the 
state of New York, where it is a great nuisance. 



384 TH?. YOUNG FA.RMER'3 MANUAL. 

We know of no weed in the j^rain-^rowing districts of New 
York that is so difficult to exterminate as this. Canada thistles, 
daisies, and dock can be eradicated with f^icility, compared with 
this. Field mustard is an annual plant, having leaves like tlie 
turnip, and bright yellow flowers. It starts from the seed at 
any time between early spring and late autumn. The plants grow 
rapidly, and produce a large immber of seeds in a short time. 
In ordinary seasons, two crops will mature on the same field, but 
winter kills every plant. The seeds will remain in the ground a 
life time without losing their vitality. We have cultivated a 
field sixteen successive seasons, allowing no mustard to go to 
seed ; but deep plowing brought seed to the surface the seven- 
teenth year, so that the ground was nearly covered with the young 
plants. 

When wheat, rye, barley, oats, flax, and such crops are raised, 
if there is mustard seed in the soil it will appear, and will ripen 
its seed before the crops. Much of the seed will shell out while 
the grain is being harvested. If it should not be covered with 
earth sufficiently deep to promote vegetation, it will remain until 
the next season, or until the moisture and heat happen to be just 
right to cause germination. 

There are two things indispensably necessary to exterminate 
mustard. One is to allow no seed to mature ; and the other is, 
to cultivate sucli crops as will induce all the seed to vegetate, 
that the plants may be destroyed before they go to seed. Grain 
having mustard seed among it should never be fed to stock until 
after it is ground into meal. 

When mustard comes up very thick, harrow the ground 
thoroughly, as soon as the crop of grain has been removed. 
After a few weeks have elapsed, harrow it again. This will 
destroy most of the young plants in the seed leaf. After this, 
use a cultivator instead of a harrow. These repeated scarify- 
ings will cover the seed and bring others near the surface, so that 
a large proportion vegetates and dies before winter. The next 
season harrow the ground early in the spring, so as to start a new 
crop of the seed. Plow it soon after the time for plowing for 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 385 

Indian corn. Harrow again in about two weeks. After an- 
other fortnight, plow and sow buck-wheat ; as soon as the buck- 
wheat is harvested, harrow the ground again. The next season 
manure well, and raise a hoed crop ; and allow no mustard to 
go to seed. Next sow a crop of winter grain. The mustard 
may now appear quite thick, but none of it will have time to 
r'^^en before winter, when every plant will die. A limited 
number of plants will appear the next season among the stand- 
ing grain. When they are in full blossom, let every one be pull- 
ed. A careful, faithful man will be able to pull all the mustard 
in a day that will appear on several acres, after the soil has been 
treated in the manner recommended. After this, any kind of 
grain may be raised. But for more than twenty years mustard 
will come up every season, and must be pulled up before it ripens. 
This is the only way that our cultivatable fields can be rid of this 
pestiferous plant. Incessant vigilance from year to year will ex- 
terminate it effectually. 

THB DANDELION ITS USES HOW CULTIVATED AND EXTERMINATED. 

TOO. This ai tide was prepared for the Am. Ayriculturist. 
*' Most persons look upon the dandelion as a weed to be exter- 
minated rather than as a plant to be cultivated. Every meadow 
and grass plot is studded with its bright yellow blossoms in 
spring. The dandelion is so common a plant that we are ac- 
customed to overlook its beauty ; yet our engraving shows that 
its leaves are not inelegant, while its flowers arc quite as pretty 
as many we cultivate for ornament. Each little one-seeded fruit 
has a delicate, little, long handled parasol made up of hairs at- 
tached to it — a contrivance well adapted to aid in its distribution 
by the winds. The leaves vary greatly according to the situation 
in which the p'ant grows ; but they are all marked with strong 
tooth-like notches, which suggested one of the French names of 
the plant. Dent de lion (lion's tooth), from which is derived our 
word dandelion. The leaves of the dandelion are much used 
as greens ; and when blanched, they foriu a salad like endive. 



THE YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 




THE DANDELION. 



,1 

I 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 38t 

The root is employed medicinally, and is one of the many articles 
used as substitutes for or to mix with coffee. The plant is 
botanically related to both chicory and endive, and is used in a 
similar way. Those who value it for greens will find it much 
better to cultivate the plants than to depend upon those which 
grow spontaneously, as they are superior, and are always at 
hand. When the root is required, it sliould always be taken up 
in the fall, as then it contains most of the milky juice upon which 
its properties depend. The seed is sown in May or June, in well 
prepared ground, in drills twelve or fifteen inches apart. Thin 
to three or four inches, and keep the plants well cultivated 
through the season, and they will be fit for use in the following 
spring. According to Burr, if the dandelion is cultivated for its 
root, the sowing is done in October, the plants thinned the fol- 
lowing June, and kept free from weeds during summer, and the 
roots harvested the next October by plowing them out. The 
roots are prepared for market by washing, slicing and drying 
them." As the dandelion is a perennial plant, and springs from 
the seed, it is only necessary to cultivate land well, with a three 
or four-years rotation of crops, to efi"ectually exterminate it. 

M\YW£ED — DOG'-S FENNEL — STINKING CHAMOMILE — CMarM^a Cotula.) 

7G1. Stems very branching, six to sixteen inches high, smooth 
or somewhat grooved. Root lives but one year. Tiie leaves are 
much divided into very narrow divisions. The ends of the 
branches are leafless, striated and terminated by the heads. 
These are about half to one inch in diameter, and consist of 
about a dozen strap-shaped white rays, and a convex or sugar- 
loaf-shaped yellow disk. The rays have generally a slight notch 
in the end, the wider ones sometimes two, and at first spread 
horizontally, but turn back towards the stem as the flower ma- 
tures. The disk, which is generally a quarter to three-eighths of 
an inch in diameter, is composed of numerous small yellow tubular 
flowers, each surmounting a smooth ribbed or grooved seed. 
The heads produce from a small number to two hundred seeds 
each; ordinary sized ones about one hundred and forty. The 
whole plant is strongly scented. 



388 THK YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

7G2. Linnaeus says that " it is grateful to toad^, drives away 
fleas, and is annoying to flies." It blossoms from June to Sep- 
tember. Originally introduced from Europe. It is abundant by 
road sides, in waste places, &c., presenting a whitish surface 
when in bloom. It varies greatly according to the circumstances 
under which it grows. I have seen it of large size, producing 
three hundred and fifty heads and many tiiousands ot seeds when 
it grew in a good locality ; and on the other hand, when under 
less favorable conditions, but an inch liigh ; in one case but three- 
eighths of an inch, producing but a single small head. Many 
ftirmers think that it exerts, by its odor, or more probably by the 
pollen of its flowers, a positively injurious or blighting influence 
on wheat ; but the majority maintain that in this respect it is 
harmless. It is easily eradicated by thorough cultivation. — 
W. H. B., in Coimb-y Gentleman. 

763. In some of our wheat-growing districts thcro is a per- 
nicious weed similar to this May Weed, whose seeds vegetate in 
autumn ; and the next year the plants grow very large and thick, 
some times one and a half feet high, rendering it almost impossi- 
ble to cradle the grain unless it is cut above this weed. What- 
ever may be the name of the weed, it may be easily exterminated 
by raising nothing but spring crops, as it will not mixture seed 
unless the young plants start the previous autumn. 

MILK WEED — (Asclepias Cornuti.) 

764. Milk weed is a perennial plant. It is much more dif- 
ficult to exterminate than Canada thistles, on account of its run- 
n*Dg roots, which strike deep in the soil, often extending two or 
three feet below the surface. They are also very tenacious of 
life, sometimes sending up strong stems two or three years after 
they were all thought to be exterminated. When milk weed is 
cured with hay, all kinds of animals like to eat of them for a 
variety ; but they soon lose their relish for them. 

765. This weed may be recognized by its straight, erect and 
smooth stem, and large, smooth leaves, out of which a white 
juice exudes when any part is cut or pulled asunder. The stems 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 389 

often grow four or five feet higli on rich land, and nearly one iucli 
in diameter. The flowers are greenish purple, in umbels, and 
quite numerous. The seed vessel is a follicle or large pod, se- 
veral inches long and an inch or more in diameter, on large stems. 
The seeds are very light, and are attached to a fine, hair-liko 
substance, which bears them up in the wind as they are wafted 
over the fields. 

766. The most eff'ectual way to eradicate this weed is to 
manure highly and cultivate some hoed crops for two or three 
successive seasons, allowing none to blossom. If they are al- 
lowed to blossom, the roots acquire new life and strength to send 
up stems the next season. When they cannot be cut up with 
hoes, let them be pulled. By keeping them subdued for a few 
years, they will be so fcA^and scattering as to do little harm. 

COCKLE— CORN COCKLE- {Agrostemma Githago.) 

" Of these the husbandman takes certain note, 
And in the propar season disinters 
Their baneful roots ; and to the sun expo sed, 
Leaves them to perish in the noonday."— Read. 

767. This plant is said, by professional botanists, to be both 
an annual and a biennial. I have been familiar with it for forty 
years, and never have known it to mature in one season. It was 
always found among winter grain ; and n^ver with sprirg grain. 
The seed germinates late in the summer, or in autumn, and the 
plants mature the next season. The Fig. given in next page re- 
presents a portion of the plant in blossom. At the left side of the 
figure a portion of a capsule is shown, cut in two parts. One of 
the seeds is represented between the capsule and the plant. The 
seeds arc black, and sometimes almost round ; and it is difficult to 
separate them from wheat, unless the kernels are very large, as 
small grains of wheat will pass through a sieve that will take out 
ihe cockle seed. It is not difficult to exterminate. If no seed is 
sowed with grain, there will seldom be any cockle. When it does 
appear in the spring, as soon as the plants are about one foot high, 
let them be pulled up. Should any escape notice till harvest. 



390 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MAXUAL. 

tliej nioy be separated readily from tbo straw o1 the grain before 




COCKLE — CORN COCKLE. 



the seed shells out. Such black seeds detract from the appear, 
ancc of the cleaned grain more than they injure the flour. 

FLEA BANE — (Erigeron Strigosum.) 

7G8. This worthless weed appears sometimes in meadows and 
pastures, gi owing thick and tall, often rooting out the grass, so 
that it is not worth mowino;. Some l)otanists call it an annr.ai. 



THE YOUxVG farmer's MANUAL. 391 

But it is not, as I have frequently seen the young plants start 
one season where there was not a plant to be seen ; and the next 
season the meadow would be white with the tall weeds i-:! blossom. 
169. It grows from two to four feet high, on a tall, slender 
stem with white blossoms at the top, somewhat like the blossoms 
of the daisy, but much smaller. (See Darlington's Ag. Botany) 
The true way to eradicate it is to let none go to seed. Before 
grass is fit to cut, clip off all the flowers of this weed as soon as 
they blossom. Mow them in pastures, and let none of the seed 
be scattered on the ground, nor gathered with hay-seed, or find 
its way amo;!g manure into cultivated fields, and it will shortly 
disappear from the farm. The seed of the plant is often sowed 
v/ith red top and Kentucky blue grass seed. Tliose farmers who 
raise their own grass seed with care, and who cultivate their land 
thoroughly, will never be troubled with flea bane. 

770. When it appears among early rod clover and orchard 
grass, they will be fit to mow long before the flea bane has 
matured the seed. When it grows among timothy grasj, most of 
its seed will ripen before the timothy is fit to cut. Should there 
be but a limited number of plants, it would be best to cut them 
all out of the standing grass. Sometimes a second crop of this 
weed appears in meadows. This is apt to be the case when the 
weeds were cut before they were in full bloom. Let them grow 
till the blossoms are well developed, then mow them and rake the 
stalks in large heaps. If left where they grew, many of them 
will mature the seed even after they are cut down. Treat them 
in the same manner when they grow in pasture fields. 

DOCK — SOUR DOCK^-CURLED DOCK — {Curled Rumex)- BITTER DOCK — 
BROAD-LEAVED DOCK — (Obtuse-Ieaved Rumex.) 

711. For the botanical description of the diiferent kinds of 
dock, see Gray's Botany or Darlington's Ag. Botany. It is dif- 
ficult to describe the different kinds of dock 30 that beginners will 
readily perceive the difference between them. Dock of any kind 
■is a pernicious weod. Professional botanists say the root is per- 
ennial. It is not always. I have known it to be a biennial and 



392 TIIR YOUNG farmer's MANUAL. 

triennial, and rarely a porcni.i.il. The large, lon;^ tap roots are 
very tenacions of life. If pulled np and dropped on the ground 
m damp weather, they will all take root and grow rapidly. Good 
cultivation will soon exterminate it. L2t none go to seed, and it 
will not survive many years. When it grows among grain, the 
best way to exterminate it is to pull it, when the soil is very wet, 
throwing the stalks in large heaps. Mowing it twice a year in 
pastures, if cut before the seed has ripened, will usually destroy 
it till the ground is again ])lowed, when a new crop may appear 
should there be seed in the ground. 

*I72. Sometimes young dock will come up very thick among 
Indian corn and other hoed crops. Root them up witli cultiva- 
tors and hoes, late in the fall and the next spring [)low them well 
under, with deep furrows. All that are buried deep will die. 
Those that are near the surface will live, and nuist be pulled up 
at any time before they go to seed. Mr. T. W. Colburn, a Ver- 
mont farmer, writes of Yellow Dock: It is ai)out twelve years 
since they made tlieir appearance in my fields. At first I paid but 
little attention to them, for they did not increase fast ; but after 
getting the seed into the manure, they began to multiply rapidly, 
and in making some effort to subdue them I found they spread and 
propagated from the root as well as the seed. I began to feel 
alarmed, for they were becoming very numerous in all my grass 
lands, and how to get rid of them I did not know, but formed a 
resolution three years ago to wage a war of extermination in -^ome 
way. I purchased a pair of stiff heavy plate subsoil spades, six- 
teen inches in length ; I ground down the lower edge sharp, and 
after the haying season was over, put two men at work in the 
field.^, cutting thein off from six to ten inches below the surface, 
and then pulling up the part of the root thus separated with the 
fingers, and after letting them lay upon the ground until wilted, 
put them into a pile on the side of the highway. I employed 
these men for the most part of three weeks in this operation, and 
gathered a large quantity of these roots which have rotted down 
on the roadside, and they have never appeared above the surface 
where thej- wire cut in the ground. Some small ones escaped 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 393 

the eye of the workers, and seed was in tlie hay of that year so 
that I must repeat the operation this year, but there is not one 
now where tliere were five before I ent them three years ag;o. I 
beheve if they arc cut off six inches below the surface, jmlled np 
and removed from the field, it will stop them ; they will not spi-out 
or vegetate from the part of the root left in the soil. The part 
left is too far below warmth, light and air to start into life anew. 
7t3. Such weeds should never be carried to the highway, as 
they will make good manure. If Mr. Colburn had cut the dock 
alluded to, only two inches below the sinface with broad hoes, the 
roots would have died as effectually as if cut with spades ; and 
the labor would have been very much less. 

THE COMMON THISTLE— BULL THLSTLE— ( G>si?*7/i Lanccolatum) 

t74. This repulsive weed is a biennial. Tiic seed is scattered 
by the wind over the country, in the latter part of summer vnd 
autumn ; and if it falls on sod ground it may vegetate, but will 
not take root. But when it fall^ on broken soil or ground where 
winter grain has been put in, the young plants appear with the 
wheat in autumn , and the next season there will be large, well 
matured thistles among the standing grain. If a field is stocked 
down to grass, large thistles Vvill be found among the grass. But 
the roots always die after they have survived one winter and the 
ioUowing summer. 

775. This thistle always starts from the seed, and never from 
spreading roots. As every seed is attached to a downy pappus, 
which subserves the use of wings, the farmer who is exceedingly 
careful not to allow one to go to seed on his farm, has no security 
against this thistle appearing among his winter grain or new 
meadows. The best and most eflfectual way to eradicate them is 
to put on leather mittens, and pull them, late in the fall, in the 
winter or spring, when the ground is soft. This will be the end 
of them. Should the ground be firm, and the roots strike so deep 
as to make them pull hard, cut them off with a sharp spade or 
sharp mattock having a broad blade, at least three inches below 
the surface. T'hen the roots will die. If the tops only be cut 



394 THE YOU>fG FARM3r'3 MANUAL. 

off, the roots will often sprout agaia. After the buds arc form- 
ed, mow them, and let none go to seed. But when they are 
cut up by the roots th(n-e will be none to mow. This kind of 
thistle may be exterminated in the winter as well as summer. — 
See botanical description of this thistle in Dr. Darlington's Ag. 
Botany.) — ^Besides this thistle there are the Yellow Thistle 
(Cirsium Horrid idiim) nnd {Cirsm??i Pumiluvi), none of which 
are half so prolific as the Cirsium Lanccolatum. They are all 
biennial plants, and may be exterminated in the same manner as 
detailed in the preceding paragraph. The Yelhw Thistle is seen 
so seldom that it appears more like a curiosity than a noxious 
weed to be exterminated. 

POISON HEMLOCK— (Co»m;» Mucalatum.) 

776. The accompanying figure represents a stalk of Poison 
Hemlock, sometimes called Conium or Conicv. At A, is one of 
the panicies. B, represents a seed recqitacla. At C, a trans- 
verse section of a seed is shown. This is by no means a diffi- 
cult weed to exterminate, althougli some farmers dread it far 
more than the Canada thistle. It grows only in waste, neglected 
and uncultivated ground. It is a perennial plant. 

When this weed is about two feet high, it sometimes has the 
appearance of Sweet Cicely. I have frequently heard of chddren 
who, having mistaken this root for Sweet Cicely, have eaten it, 
and were badly poisoned by it. When the two plants grow in 
close proximity, they should be placed side by side, and the 
botanical points of difference closely noted. In this way even 
children will easily perceive the real difference, and will he able 
to recognize it without any hesitancy. The fragrance of the roots 
of Sweet Cicely is always a certain index of one great difference 
between the two plants. The seed of poison heiidock (Conium) 
as well as Sweet Cicely is scattered by birds in the forest; and 
as soon as the timber is cut away, the young plants appear. 
Let every plant be taken up with a spade when they have grown 
one season, or they will cover the entire field before stumps are 
rotted so that the ground can be plowed. 



THE YOUNG F IRMER's MANUAL. 



395 



Mowing close to the ground, as often as it grows large enough to 
blossom, will destroy it in two seasons. By plowing the ground, 
planting a hoed crop, and cultivating well for one season, it will 
effectually be exterminated. 




POISON HEMLOCK. 



777. This weed is frequently mistaken for Ciatta, which goes 



396 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



by llie names of Beaver Poison, Musquash-root and Spotted 
Cow Bane. Some knowledge of botany is essential to understand 
the difference between these two weeds. They arc both very 
poisonous. I have frequently read of children being poisoned to 
death by eating the roots, supposing they were Sweet Cicely. 
When the leaves or stems are cut or bruised they emit a very 
si'.'kening and offensive smell. Gray's Botany will enable one to 
perceive the difference between the two plants by examining a 
specimen nf each and comparing them. 

JOHN'S WORT— (Hypericum Perforatum.) 

7t8. The illustration herewith given shows a portion of a 
stem of John's Wort. A, is a blossom, which is yellow or 
orange-colored. B, is a ripened receptacle of seed. C, repre- 
sents a cross section of a seed vessel. This weed is a perennial, 
growing froni one to three feet high in meadows and pasture 




JOHN'S WOBT. 



fields. It is easily exterminated by good cultivation, and not 
allowing any to go to seed. When allowed to mature the seed 
in pastures, cattle will sometimes swallow more or less seed and 
drop it about the fields. When mowed with grass, the seed all 
goes among the manure, or a portion of it is sowed with grass 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



:9T 



seed. Let none go to seed : cultivate the soil well, and John's 
Wort will give no trouble. 

THE FIELD HORSE-TAiL. — {Equisetum Arvense.) 

7*19. Under the name of Pine- Wood and Low-Pine, the 
Field Horse-Tail has been, of late, considera])ly 
discussed by agricultural journals and inquired 
about. The interest in the matter arises from 
the fatal effects upon horses which have been 
ascribed to it. As some of those who have writ- 
ten upon the subject have been talking about 
a widely different plant, the Mare's-Tail, I give 
figures of the one in question, Equisetum Arvense, 
the Field Horse-Tail. The common name in 
this case is a translation of the botanical one. 
Equisetum is from the Latin, Equus, a horse, and 
seta, a bristle, and refers to the hair-like charac- 
ter of the branches of some species. The 
Horse-Tails are \7hat botanists call cryptogamous, 
or flowerless plants, as, like the fern, mosses, 
etc., they have no true flower with stamens 
and pistils, and they do not produce seed ; but, 
in its place, spores, which are very small round 
bodies, like dust, by means of which tlie plants 
are multiplied. The species under consideration 
presents two forms which an ordinary obser- 
ver would never take to belong to the same 
plant. In damp places, in April and May, are 
found numerous simple stems like fig. 1 ; they 
are hollow, grooved, of a light brown color, 
having at each joint a sort of sheath of a darker 
color. At the top of the stem is a head, shaped 
like a pine-cone, made up of scales, which bear 
the spores on their inner surface. After the 
stems above described have shed their spores, 
they die away ; and later in the season the 
barren ones appear, which are greon, of the shape of 




FIG. 1. 



398 



THE YOUNG FARMRR'S MANUAL. 



fia\ 2, an(] are eight to twelve inches or more liig-h. These, as 
well as the fertile ones, are gTooved and liollovv, and bear at 




THE FIELD HOBSE TAIL. FIG. 2. 

the joints slender and loni^ branches, tlie whole having so much 



THE YOUNG FARMEr's MANUAL. 399 

the appearance of a miniature pine tree as to sugp^est the popu- 
lar names of Low-pine and Ground-pine. With regard to the 
poisonous qualities of this plant, we are in the same uncertainty 
as we are respecting the Sheep-Laurel, noticed in a-^other article. 

The testimony is most conflicting, some saying that it is 
harmless to all domestic animals except horses, others that it 
harms only cattle or sheep, and others again that it furnishes, in 
some places, the chief forage. With regard to the poisoning of 
animals, I am inclined to be a little skeptical, as their instinct 
generally leads them to avoid injunous plants. If a certain- 
plant is poisonous, its effects should be studied, and its proper 
antidote known ; then the farmer would not be harboring a 
poisonous plant, nor suspecting an innocent one as the cause of 
every fit of indigestion \n^ animals happen to have, and he would 
not waste his time and the animal's strength by trying various 
foolisli and empyrical remedies. 

t80. I remember well, when a small boy, that in one of my 
father's meadows numerous weeds appeared every summer, which 
wei-e cut with the grass and made into hay. They were called 
by the men, " Pine-Weed." For many years the grass of that 
meadow was made into hay with countless numbers of this weed- 
I never heard, until recently, that anyone even supposed that 
this weed was poisonous. Our horses, neat cattle and sheep eat 
the hay and the pine-weed without injury. This weed is usually 
found on low grounds, where it is rather wet. Drahiing and 
good cultivation will soon exterminate it. 

RAG- WEED OR BITTER WEED.— (Ambrosia Tfificla.) 

781. There are two species of ihis pernicious weed. The 
Ambrosia Artemesiae folia is so near like the Ambrosia Trifida 
that it is sometimes difiicult for those who are not familiar with 
plants to distinguish the difference between them. But as they 
are both annuals, the same treatment will exterminate cither. 
Rag-weed does not do much injury till haying and harvest, when 
it springs up in the stubble, and in meadows wlicn a tough sod 
Joes not cover the entire ground ; and sometimes grows so rapid- 



400 



TIIK YOUXG farmer's MANUAL. 



ly that there is notliiii:?: l)ut a heavy growtli of this weed to be 
seen. After the last hooin,i^ of potatoes and Indian corn, Rag- 
weed spreads its branches so that every other weed and grass is 
over-topped, and choked down. 




BAG-WEED OK BLTTER WEED. 



782. It is not difficult to eradicate. Let none go to seed. 
Mow it in meadows and pastures as soon as it is in blossom, 
when the stalks are wet, and rake it in large heaps, where seed 
and all will rot. In corn fields it must be pulled or mowed and 



THE YOUXG farmer's MANrjAL. 401 

ga'„hered into large piles, or the seed will be scattered on the mel- 
low soil, and will not vegetate, unless in a favorable place in the 
soil, in less than ten or twenty years. 

788. When it appears in wheat or barley stubble, either 
plough the ground or cultivate it a few inches deep, so as to root 
up every plant. This plant never spreads from the roots. There- 
fore when a stem appears let it be pulled. Let men go through 
corn fields and pull the scattering plants before it has taken 
possession of a field. By this precaution it may be kept out of 
cultivated fields with little difficuliy. But let the solitary plants, 
which are seen at first far apart, mature their seed and scatter 
it over the ground, and there will be weeding enough for many 
years. 

COMMON MULLEIN — (^Verhascum Thapsus.) 

784. No good farmer is troubled with mulleins. The seed pos- 
sesses great vitality. When nothing else occupies the soil, mul- 
leins appear. I well remember plowing a piece of sod ground 
which I knew had not been broken up for over thirty years ; and 
mullein plants covered the ground with their large leaves before 
autumn. The next season, aftei* there is a good system of leaves 
and roots formed, they send up a tall, shm stem, from one to seven 
feet high, with no branches. It is the most prolific plant I ever 
met with. The seeds are very small^ and numerous as the divis- 
ions in the eye of a horse fly. Mulleins cannot mature their seed 
where spring crops are grown. If they have been allowed to live 
during the winter, pull or cut them below the surface of the 
ground. But let none go to seed. If mulleins ever spring up in 
cultivated fields, where there is but little herbage, if the soil be 
heavy, plow it deep in autumn, and the next spring sow three 
bushels of Indian corn for a crop of green manure. (See Para- 
graphs 683 and 684.) 

QUACK GRASS — COUCH GRASS— QUITCH GRASS— {THticum Repens.) 

785. As this plant is one of the grasses, it ought properly 
to be noticed in a Chapter on Grasses and l^or ^e Plants. 



402 THE YOUNG FARMER S MANUAL. 

Still, as it is far more important to know how to exterminate 
than to cultivate such a pest of our grain farms, I have ranked 
it among noxious weeds. I have nothin2: to p^n in favor of sncli 
grass. It is a coarse, ugly, disagreeable grass for stock ; and 
it makes very inferior hay. The common name accepted by Euro- 
pean and American authorities is Couch-grass, and though in 
some localities it is called by other names, such as Quack, Quicki 
Quitch, we prefer to adhere to the establ'shed name, Conch-grass 
Tritlcum Repens. 

78G. It is a perennial, and spreads rapidly by its numerous 
roots, which increase so fast as to supplant everything else, often 
becoming such a tangled and dense mass in the soil that it is 
difficult to plow the ground, unless the plow is provided with 
a sharp coulter and share, and driven below most of the roots. 
It is also propagated by the seed. Some farmers, fancying that 
it would be an excellent grass to cultivate, have sowed the seed 
and made hay of the grass, after which the seed has been scatter- 
ed in the manure over many fields. Although quack is exceed- 
ingly difficult to exterminate, still it may be killed in one season, 
if faithfully uttended to at the proper time. 

787. When there is but a limited amount of it in small plots 
in various parts of a field, the best mode of exterminating it is 
to plant Indim corn two years in succession ; and the first season 
cultivate and hoe it every two weeks, and haul out all the roots 
that are loosened by the horse hoe, and knock the earth off them, 
leaving them to die on the surface. The next season, wlien the 
ground is plowed, should there be any live roots in the ground, 
let one or two hands follow with potato hooks, and haul out 
every root, and gather them in a large heap to decay. A little 
labor with hoes and potato hooks will c )mpletely destroy it. 

788. In those fields where it has taken complete possession of 
the soil, plow the land deep in autum.i, turning the quack com- 
pletely under. This plowing must be well performed, or the ex- 
periment will fail. The next season, as soon as the young grass 
has appeared, like wheat about two weeks old, cultivate the 
grounrl, or go over it with a gang plow, having sharp edges, so 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



403 



as to cut off every young plant. Conthiuo to cultivate until the 
time arrives for sowing buck-wheat. As soon as the buck-wheat 
is cut and set up in stooks, cultivate the ground twice, thoroughly, 
and continue to do so till winter as often as the grass grows 3 or 
4 inches high. The stocks of buckwheat may best be remove:! 
from the cultivated ground in order to keep the- grass subdued 
wliilc the buck-wheat is curing. The next season, if much re- 
mains in the soil, summer fallow the ground, and rake out the 
roots with a couch-grass rake. This treatment will subdue it 
so effectually, that the next year the ground should be sum- 
mer fallowed. The plowing should be done with narrow fur 
rows, and the roots raked out and gathered in heaps. Some far- 
mers put two horses, tandem, before a sulkey hay rake, and 
rake the mellow soil, leaving the roots in rows. Others make a 
Btrong iron-toothed rake, represented by the illustration, having a 




^^"-V--- 7^^ 



COUCH-GKASS EAKE. 



Lead about four feet long, and four by four inches square of hard 



404 THE YOUNG farmer's manual. 

wood, with strong iron teeth fastened in the head, guided by a 
tongue, and drawn by two horses. The teeth arc about six inches 
apart and ten long, and made of the best Swedish iron, l^ inches 
wide, by f of an inch tliick, dr.iwa to a point, and hammered to 
a coulter edge on the forward side. The upper ends are made 
with a strong nut and shoulder-brace, as represented by the en- 
larged figure of a tooth, at the right hand sid,? of the engraving. 
The teeth are about ten inches long below the Head. The holes 
for the shank should be bored three-quarters of an inch from the 
forward side of the head, and the holes to receive the rounded end 
of the tooth brace shouhl be only 1 inch deep, so that the ends 
of the braces will extend to the bottom against the solid wood. It 
there are roots of trees and stumps, or fast stones in a field, the 
teeth may be heavier ; although with careful usage, the size de- 
signated will make the rake heavy enough and sufficiently strong. 
The hilts of the handles should be so low that a man can stand 
erect and just grasp them with his hands while the teeth are in 
the ground and the end of the tongue as high as the neck-yoke. 
If the handles are too high, it will be much harder work to hold 
the rake and to lift it when the mass of roots is to bo dropped. 
Two handles serve to lift it from the roots, as well as to make it 
run at the desired depth. Ordinary harrows w'.ll loosen the 
roots, but not bring them to the surface. The rake just describ- 
ed will haul them along to the row of roots, when they may be 
released on the top of the ground. 

189. I have frequently heard farmers complain tliat they 
could never succeed in utterly exterminating this weed. The true 
reason of this is, as soon as the quack is so far subdued as to not 
retard growing crops, all effort to eradicate it is abandoned ; and 
in a few months, during the former part of the growing season, 
the roots spread with astonishing rapidity. When it appears to 
be almost exterminated, then is the time, quite as much as at any 
other, to apply the hoe and the rake, and cut up, or pull up the 
last vestige of root and branch. This is the only way of elTectual 
extermination. 



THE YOCXG FAKMEr's MAXUAL. 405 

BUTTEKCUP— CROWFOOT.— (/JaMUnCtt/MS AcHs.) 

790. Botanists mention, besides the Ranunculus Aeris, the 
White Water Crowfoot, (Ranunculus Aquatilis); tlie Yellow 
Water Crowfoot, (R. Purshii); the Sea-side Crowfoot, (R. 
Rhoniboldeus); the Small-flowered Crowfoot, (R. Ahortivus); 
the Cursed Crowfoor,, (R. Saueratus); the Hooked Crowfoot, 
(R. Recurvatus); the Bristly Crowfoot, (R. Pennsylvankus); 
the Early Crowfoot, (R. Fasdcularis); the Creeping Crowfoot, 
(R. Repens); and the Bulbous Crowfoot, (R. Bulhosus). A 
person will need a liberal smattering of botany to be able to 
distinguish the small botanical difference between these weeds. 

791. The Ranunculus Acris is a very pernicious weed. It 
appears abundantly in pastures and old meadows all over New 
England, Central and Western New York, Ohio, some parts of 
Canada, Pennsylvania and other States. It may be easily 
distinguished l)y its bright yellow flowers on the ends of tall 
stems. It is not a poisonous plant ; cattle frequently eat the 
seeds and drop them on different parts of the farm, as was 
mentioned under the head of Daisies, par. 732. When the 
weeds are dried with grass for hay, the seeds are carried in the 
manure to cultivated fields. 

792. Many farmers contend that this weed will make good 
hay, as animals will eat it with avidity. So they will eat bur- 
dock leaves, thistles, and other pernicious weeds found among 
hay, simply because they are fond of a variety. But such plants 
are unlit for good hay; and besides this, more than twice as 
many pounds of timothy hay will grow on a foot square as can 
be made of this weed. I know a farmer who kept a drove of 
cattle over night in the winter, and the animals left the seid of 
the Ranunculus Acris all over his meadow, in their droppings ; 
and the second summer afterwards, the Crowfoot appeared in 
vast numbers. 

793. Mow the grpss where this weed appears, before it has 
matured the seed. Then plow the ground and cultivate a hoed 
crop, and follow this with spring crops for two seasons. This 



406 



THE YOUNG FAUilEIi^ MANUAL, 



plant is a perennial ; therefore winter crops should not be 
raised where it exists until evcr}^ plant is exterminated witli 
Spring crops. (Read parogra})li 730. ) 

FALSE FLAX — ( Camelina Sativa.) 

194. This noxious weed h 
an annunl, which always springs 
from the seed in the former parr, 
of the growing season, and die^:, 
root and branch, dnrhig winter. 
Many farmers insist that it is 
a kind of degenerate flax, which 
is no more probable than, the 
theory of tiie transmutation of 
wheat to chess. This weed is 
not at all troublesome, if land is 
well cultivated, as a few heavy 
crops will cliokc and effectually 
exterminate it. Let none go to 
seed. Then, if the plants ap- 
pear, the seed must be grown 
out of the soil, as directed for 
exterminating mustard or char- 
lock, par. 759. Mow it when in 
blossom in pastures and mea- 
dows, and put it in heaps, and 
let none of the seed be scattered 
FALSE PLAx. amcnfj* manure. 




FOX-TAIL GRASS.— CSetoria.j 

795. There are two species of this grass represented by the 
illustration, which are so nearly alike that it is difficult to distin- 
guish the difference, unless the plants are placed side by side. 
They are both annuals, and yield an abundant seed, which ren- 
ders gardens, Indian corn fields, and some other cultivated 
ground extremely grassy. One seed produces sometimes forty or 



THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



40t 



more long seed-stalkf?, loaded with seed. After hoed crops hav(j 
been dressed for the hist time, tussocks of fox-tail grass frequently 
appqar in great abund- 
ance, which are palled 
np and twisted into 
bands for binding stooks 
and bundles of corn- 
stalks. Ill this way the 
seed is scattered among 
tlie manure and carried 
to cultivated fields. This 
kind of grass sometimes 
appears after wheat, oats 
and barley have been har 
vested, producing a heavy 
crop of feed before win- 
ter, when allowed to 
grow without interrup- 
tion. 

19Q. The best way 
to manage with the grass, 
when it appears after har- 
vest, is to collect a large 
number of sheep into one 
field and let them eat it 
close to the ground. 
Should it appear again 
before winter, feed it off 
again. Or, as soon as 
the blossoms are formed, 
plow it all under, when 
the seeds will decay if 

they have not ripened. Every plant will die during the winter. 
Therefore it is only necessary to prevent any going to seed for a 
few seasons, in order to exterminate it effectually. Wlien large 
tussocks are formed among Indian corn and potatoes, better pull 




FOX-TAIL GBAS3. 



408 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 

them and throw in large heaps, where seed and stem.s will decay, 
unless dead ripe, than to allow the seed to fall where it grew. 
This kind of grass gives more trouble, sometimes, than any. other 
weed, in flower and vegetable gardens. In such places, hoe it 
up or let it grow till it appears in bunches, when it can be pulled 
up with little labor. It never gives any trouble on sod ground, 
as the cultivated grasses choke and supplant it. 



I N ID E X, 



Analyses of soils, 
AjErriculture, progressive, 

scientific, 

wLat it is, , 
Ashes, value of. 

exhausting character of. 

quantity per acre, 

way to save ashes 

theory of the action of. 

vcluc of leached, 
Ammonia, how to save, 

illustrations about, 
Animals, dead, value of, 



Beginning wrong and ending right. 
Beams, plow, how long to make. 
Barnyard, how to make, , 

another way to make, 
Brace and bits, . . 

Bolts, for carriages, 

for tires, 

for plows, .... 
Blood ?nd its management. 
Bones and their utility, 

bone buttons, how madr. 

ground bone — adulttrition of, 

dissolving in ashes. 



PARAGBAPH 

12 


PAGB 
6 


. 14 


7 


28 
30 


l3 
11 


550 


272 


. 555 


273 


557 
. 555 

561 
. 563 


274 
274 
275 

276 


568 


278 


. 573 


279 


681 


337 



66 


31 


466 


240 


509 


255 


512 


256 


209 


103 


210 


104 


211 


li»4 


213 


105 


627 


303 


643 


31G 


646 


317 


649 


318 


653 


320 



410 



Boi:c8, burning, 

how to save and manage, 
experiments in grinding, 
composition of bones, . 
Bitterns, refuse of salt works, 
Bardocl\, (xtern;ination, 
Bane, flea, extermination. 
Buttercup, crowfoot, 



INDEX 



PAKAGRAPH 


PAC.B 


. G54 


320 


C56 


321 


. 659 


322 


631 


323 


. 703 


350 


757 


383 


. 768 


390 


790 


405 



Chemistry, agricultural, 
Chess, or cheat, transmutation of, 
Capital in farming, . . . . 
Cattle and sheep, rearing and fatting, 

pasturing together, 
Charcoal, vahio of, . . , 
Cottercls, washers, . . . . 

Clay 

Cluds, crushing of, . 
Clover, red, as manure, 

Av hen to plow under, 
Cress, winter, extermination of, . 
CharlocL-, mustard, . . . . 



Coclile, extermination of, . • • 

Crops, adapted to the soil, • • . • 

Crab, king, for manure, . . . • 

Crowfoot, buttercup, 790 



2 


1 


352 


380 


39 


19 


64 


32 


71 


36 


700 


349 


216 


106 


235 


115 


463 


237 


540 


237 


547 


270 


728 


367 


759 


383 


767 


389 


292 


146 


693 


345 


790 


405 



Debts, pay as you go, - . . 
Debt, running into for land, . 

Daisies, ox eye, how to eradicate, 
Dau'lelion, to cultivate and exterminate, 
Dock, extermination of. 
Dog's Fennel, or May weed. 
Draining, importance of, . 



40 


19 


46 


22 


732 


369 


760 


385 


771 


391 


761 


387 


301 


153 



INDEX. 



411 



Farm, general management of, 
Fertilizers, beneficial effect of, 
Farming, paying, defined, 

why it pays no better, 
Fanner must be a consumer, . 
Farms, poor of New England, 

when and how to examine, 
Farming, how to commence, 

beginning farming operations, 

Fruit 

Farmer, what a small may do. 
Farm — large vs. small, 

small farms, better citizens, 

incapabilities of farmers, . 
Farmer's requisite summed up, 

maxims for young. 
Farm, how to rent, . 

how to renovate poor. 
Fertilizers, value of, 

nature's way to fertilize, 
Fhx. toad, .... 
FlaX; false, how exterminated, 
Foxtail grass, extermination of, 



PABAGBAPH 

1 

706 
18 
24 
34 

64 

55 

58 

82 

82 

135 

136 

140 

145 

156 

160 

172 

300 

620 

G63 

751 

704 

795 



PAGE 
1 

352 

9 

12 

16 

26 

27 

29 

41 

41 

63 

66 

68 

77 

78 

80 

88 

152 

295 

324 

378 

406 

406 



G- 

Guano, what it is, 673 333 

manner of applying it, 675 334 

in a liquid state, G77 336 

hen manure, C79 336 

Gypsum, siilphatc ot lime, . ; 580 281 

how it operates, 5S2 282 

how to apply it 585 2.S3 

as a disinfectant, 587 284 

Grain, best kind for dairy farms, . • . . . 314 159 



H 



llusb.-viidryjmixed, . 

rotation in connection with. 



62 



29 
31 



412 



INDEX. 



PAEAGBAPH TACR 

Iloipcs vs, oxen, 101 49 

their excellences compared, . • . . . 102 50 

Horses, we must have, • 127 G2 

malio them work, 129 C3 

Horn piths, how to use, ...'... 694 346 

Hemlock, poison 776 304 

Horsetail, or pine weed, ..,,... 779 397 

Humus in Soils, 238 117 

operation oi, 239 1 18 

I 

Improvements, watching for, ...... 159 79 



John's wort, how exterminated, 



778 396 



L 

Land, good and poor, 50 

renovating worn out, ...... 290 

Leather scraps — how to use, 697 

Laurel, sheep, 748 

Lime, oxide of calcium, 593 

what soils henefited by, , . .... 534 

how much per acre, 596 

effects of lime and operation, .... 688 

gas, 603 

the basis of good husbandry, .... GC5 

precautions in using, 617 

should be kept near the surface, . . . . Ck6 

preparing lime for sowing, 010 

as a manure, 613 

success in liming, ....,,. 014 

how to use, . ...,«.. 618 

Cooper's lime spreader, (cut) . . » . . 619 

M 

Manures and fertilizers, ....##. 473 

maxims for farmers 160 



24 

145 
347 

C77 
286 
288 
288 
289 
290 
291 
293 
293 
294 
295 
200 
298 
298 



245 
80 



INDEX. 



413 





PAIUGKAPH 


PACE 


Manure, management of, 


5IG 


257 


barnyaid, value of, 


. 479 


246 


saving manure, 


482 


248 


liquid niaiiure, 


. 483 


248 


ferinentotion of )iquid, .... 


487 


249 


Prof. J«.MinRton on liquid, .... 


. 491 


250 


liquid iiiauure among other nations, 


. . 498 


252 


sail as a manure, 


. 502 


253 


swine manure. 


518 


258 


composition ol barnyard, .... 


. 521 


259 


value of fat and lean manure, 


52S 


261 


vpaste and fermentation of, ... 


. 530 


262 


top dressing with unfermented, 


532 


264 


profit of sheltering, ... 


. 534 


264 


protecting manure in winter, 


538 


266 


fire-fanged, ...... 


. 564 


276 


how to save ammonia, .... 


. 568 


278 


barnyard manure best, .... 


. 624 


302 


blood and its management, 


627 


3C3 


husbanding of manures, .... 


.- . 632 


306 


surface manuring, 


. 633 


809 


depth to cover 


. . 637 


313 


abundant manuring, .... 


. . 641 


315 


Boussingauli's Analysis of, . , . 


. . 664 


325 


how to pitch easily, .... 


. 665 


326 


forking manure over, .... 


. em 


327 


distributing in the field. 


. 668 


328 


spreading uianure, 


. 669 


329 


protected and unprotected, . . . , 


671 


831 


manuring distant fields, .... 


. . 672 


332 


philosophy of manuring in autumn, 


716 


357 


liquid mar.ure, 


. . 718 


358 


last words about manure. 


. 719 


360 


Machinery, balancing, 


. 198 


99 


momentum, advantages of, . 


162 


82 


machii.ery, fitting up. .... 


. . 179 


91 


journals of, 


182 


92 


fitting up bearings of. .... 


. 183 


93 


fitting SDiall journals to large hole, 


189 


96 


importance of balancing, . , 


. . 200 


103 



414 



INDEX. 



]?.IiIkvvee(L oxteriDiihitioii of, 
JVIuDLin, common, 
Mules vs. horses and oxen, 
Mustard, extermination of. 



PARAGRAfK 


J ur:, 


704 


388 


. 784 


401 


125 


Gl 


. 759 


383 



N 



Nails, how to make wrought, 



217 



1(6 



o 

Oxeucs. horses, • 101 49 

Oxen cannot endure heat, 1J2 55 

expense of each team, 113 55 

trafficking in oxen, 315 56 

ultimate value of, 116 57 

Oxen slow, 108 53 



Price of Imd too high, 


. 47 


23 


Paradise of a farmer, 


142 


69 


Pastures, how to improve, 


. 303 


154 


to impiove without plowing, 


305 


155 


how impoverished, how improved, 


. 308 


156 


management of, 


309 


157 


Plows and plowing, 


. 31S 


162 


why do we plow? .... 


320 


163 


philosophy of deep plowing, 


.330 


167 


deep vs. shallow plowing, 


331 


163 


pulverizing agents, 


. 336 


171 


different kinds of— how done, 


338 


172 


how to plow With lapped slices, 


. 339 


172 


with double plow, 


343 


175 


flat furrow slices, 


. 344 


176 


treuch plowing, 


346 


178 


sod and sub-soil plowing, 


• 355- 


182 



INDEX. 



415 



Plows — Michigan sod plow, 

eflfects of deep plowing, 

ill effects oi deep, 

practical effects of deep, . 

experiments in deep, 

deep plowing m New England, 

deep plowing in Pennsylvania; 

fall and winter plowing, 

object of fall plowing, . 

effect illustrated. 

experience of other men, 

suggestions against, . 

erroneous theory refuted, 

sub-s )il plow, with cut, 

how to sub- soil, 

effects of sub soiling, . 

subsoiling wet ground, . 

subsoiling skinned land, 

surface subsoil plowing, 

plowing light soil, 

heavy soil in stubble, 

how to plow wet in autumn, 

lapped furrow slices, 

gODd plowman, 

draught of heavy vs. light plows, 

how to test draught of plows, 

how to temper plow irons. 

Kilmer's attachment (cut), 

poor plowing in America, . 

original form of plow, 

the peacock plow, 

Wood's improvement, 

Hutchinson's improvement, 

best form of for heavy soils, . 

Meade's Conical plow, 

plow beams, how^ long to make, 

side-hill plowing and plow (cut), 

Pulverizers, frost and rain, 

Prairie, breaking, 

furrow slices, widei-s. narrow 

Plaster of Paris (see Gypsum), . 



PARAGRAPH 


PAGE 


855 


183 


. 356 


184 


360 


185 


. 36 J 


187 


366 


188 


. 376 


191 


378 


192 


. 382 


193 


384 


194 


. 387 


lOG 


388 


197 


. 390 


198 


393 


200 


. 394 


201 


395 


203 


. 393 


203 


403 


205 


. 404 


205 


408 


207 


. 410 


207 


411 


208 


. 414 


209 


417 


2J0 


. 418 


211 


421 


213 


. 423 


214 


430 


216 


. 687 


341 


. 440 


223 


443 


224 


. 444 


224 


445 


225 


. 446 


225 


448 


228 


- 451 


230 


466 


240 


. 470 


243 


. 412 


208 


. 433 


217 


. 439 


222 


. 590 


234 



410 



INDEX. 



PARAGRAPH PAGE 

Prof. S. W. Johnson about, 491 285 

Plaster exhausting 592 285 

Plaster Sower— Seymour's, 592 285 

Pump for liquid manure, ....... 718 358 

Q 

Quack grass, extermination of, . • . • • . 785 401 

R 

Remedy applied, 148 73 

Rake for Couch grass, 788 ' 403 



s 



Soils, analysis of, 

Stock, what kind to keep, . . . , . 

on dairy farms, 

rearing improved, ...... 

Soil, confidence in, 

Sermon, agricultural, 

Soil, duty of keeping good, .... 

Screws, gimlet pointed, 

Sand and sandy soils, 

Sheep vs. cattle, 

their expenses and profits compared. 
Soils, unproductive, 

management of different soils, 

how to renovate barren soils, 

complete pulverizatio i of, . . 

succesa depends on management, 

Swine, fattening, 

Soils and their management, .... 

how formed, 

diflference in soil, ..... 

Ktill further defined, . ... 

how distinguished, 

prairie soils, 




9 
. 73 

84 

. 132 

. 139 

. 169 

171 

. .214 

. 241 

. 70 

79 

. 296 

. 297 

. 298 

302 

. 153 

68 

. 221 

224 

. 226 

228 

. 229 

233 



'o 

37 

42 

64 

67 

86 

88 

106 

119 

39 

40 

148 

149 

150 

153 

76 

35 

108 

109 

110 

111 

112 

113 



INDEX. 



417 



Soils, chemical classification of, 

clay soils, .... 
preparation for top dressing, 
I'ertiliy of soils, 

Subsoils, errors in cultivating, , 

their character, . . , 
how should be culdvated, 
keep best on surface, 
how to maintain fertility of, 
mixing different soils, 
experience in mixing, 
removing with wheelbarrow, 
mucky soils, .... 
sandy and gravely soils, 
directions for mixing soils, 
mixing in New England, 
mixing in New York, 
improving sandy, with clay, . 
eflfects of clay, . . , 

hard-baked — culture of, 
keeping stock off where wet, 

Soils, thorough pulverization of, 

pulverization of wet impracticable 
plowing too early in spring, 
rolling ligbt soils, 
harrowing soils, 

Salt as a manure, .... 

Scercoraries, 

Soap, value of soft, .... 
ho 7 to use for manure, . 

Sawdust, how used, .... 

Soot, value of, .... 

Soils, barren, how improved, 
cold soils improved, 

Sorrel, extermination of, , . . 



PAKAGRAPH 

. 234 
235 
237 
243 
245 
246 
248 
250 
253 
255 
257 
259 
261 
232 
237 
271 
273 
276 
279 
285 
287 
326 
328 
423 
465 
467 
502 

5:6 

575 
578 
704 
705 
713 
714 
735 



PAGE 

114 
115 
116 
123 
321 
123 
124 
125 
123 
123 
129 
130 
13) 
131 
133 
134 
135 
133 
141 
143 
144 
160 
I69 
214 
239 
241 
253 
251 
280 
281 
350 
353 
355 
353 
372 



Theory and practice, 4 3 

Tools, selecting, g7 43 

rules for selecting, ....... 90 44 

Teams, wbat kind to avoid, .,,... 121 CO 



418 



INDEX. 



Teams, mares vs, geldings, 

heavy teams best, 
T. ams for agricultural purposes, 
Trinkets, farmers' 
Tan bark, value of, . 

how to use. 
Thistle, bull or common, . 
Tools, why they need protection, 

keeping in order, . 

construction of, 

weight of and implements, 
Thidles, Canada, 

among crops, 



PARAGRAPH PAGE 

123 CO 

. 119 

118 
. 207 

G29 
. C30 

774 
. 93 
95 

1G4 

1G7 

722 

727 



59 

58 

103 

304 

305 

393 

40 

47 

83 

85 

332 

306 



W 



Work, how much is a day's ? 

going to the field to work. 

Waste of woollen mills. 

Weeds and eradication of, 

Weed, pigeon, eradication of, 

May weed, extermination of, 
milk weed, extermination of, 
flea bane, extermination of, 
dock, sour, curled, bitter, . 



150 


74 


155 


77 


G95 


346 


720 


361 


730 


338 


701 


387 


767 


388 


768 


390 


771 


391 



wit H@iptttmltmrtit, 



TWEi\TY-T2IIlll) ANXUAL VOLUMi:, 1868. 
A Monthly Magazine, Devoted to 

HORTICULTURE AND AGRICULTURE. 

400 Boyal Octavo Pages Annually — Ably 
Edited and Hplendldly Illustrated, 

♦♦> 

TERMS, FOR 1868, ARE AS FOLLOWS : 

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Vols. 1865, 1866, and 1867, bound and post-paid, and Nos. 1868 7 00 



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Grapes and Wine. 



THE 

CULTURE 

OF THE 

Native Grape 

AND 

MANUFACTURE 

OF 

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By GEO. HUSMANN, 

OF MISSOURI. 

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FULLY ILLZS THAT JED, 

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AVITH 

NOTES ON THE MOST VALUABLE SPECIES. 
By ANDREW S. FULLER, 

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Growing from Cuttings. 

Budding, Grafting, etc. 

Transphmting. 

Transphmting large Trees. 



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Time to Prune. 
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Small Deciduous Treet^. 
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NEW YORK: 
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Offick of " The Horticulturist." 
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Soit post-paid J'or O^ic. Dolldv* 

THE FAKM 



A MANUAL 

OK 

^radical l^griciiltiire; 

OU, UOW TO CILTIVATB 

ALL THE FIELD CROPS: 

EMURACING 

A TIIOEOUGII EXPOSITION OF THE NATURE AND ACTION OF BOILS AND MANURKS 
THE PRINCIPLES OF ROTATION IN CROPPINO ; DIRECTIONS FOR IRRIGATING, 
DRAININC, SiritSOlLINO, FEXCIXd, AN1» I'LANTINd UKDCiKS; DESCRIP- 
TIONS OF AURIOUI.TI'RAL IMl'I.KM KNTB ; I SSI RrcIIONS IN TUB 
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ETC., ElO. ; 

WITH A MUST VALUAliLK 

(Kjsiisiai) 0U |ium pauiui^nuut. 

Bv D. JI. JACQUES, 
Author of ''Tin: Garden," "Tiif. House," " Domf.stic Animals," "IIow 

TO DO BlSINESS," "lIuW TO BeUAVF^" ETC. 



To rentier agriculture more iiroduclive nnd benefiriitl to all, it is necessary th*t Its principles should 
i« better unJerslooil, and tlml we slioulJ protit move from ilie uxjierience of each other. 

Judos Burl. 



l\tm Dork: 
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No. '57 Park Row, Office of " The IIorticui.turist." 
1807. 



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EMBRACING 

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WITU A CHAPTER ON 

By D. II. JACQUES, 

AuTUOR OF "The Farm," "The House," "Tob Barn-Yard," "How 

TO DO Blsiness," " How TO Behave," eto. 



Qardenlng wai Ihe primiiive eniplovment of the/frtt man ; i\n>\ \.)\e firtt of mtn, nmowg lili deflcen- 
dttdlt, bftve ever been allftrbed to tliiit orcupnlion. Indeed, we can Iiiirdly form au idea of huDi«« 
(•llrlt>, hi wbich a gardeu it aot onu ul' tU must proniincDt cbaracleristics. — T. U. Fkssendbm. 



N e uj Work: 
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No, 37 Pauk Kow. Office of -'The Horticulturist." 
18(37. 



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OW, now TO BREED AND REAU 

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DIRECTIONS FOK THE UKKEPING, REAKING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF 
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FOR DISEASES WITHOUT THE USE OF DRUGS; 

wirii A 

By D. II. JACQUES, 

AimioR OF "The IIomf," "The Garden," "The Farm," "How to Wuitb,' 
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Our power over the lower aninmis, if rightly exercised, redounils to their ilevatioii nnd happln 
DO less than to our convenience and prolit. — The Author. 



!Ceto lOork : 
F. W. WOODWARD, PUBLISHER, 

No. :!T I'AltK Row, OFKirF. op "TUE lI(HtTICl'LTURl9T." 

1867. 



/^ 



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